Latest / Ron Verb / Wednesday 3pm hour 06/03/26

Transcript

Wednesday 3pm hour 06/03/26 · Ron Verb

0:03
Speaker 1: Now, Ron Verb on News Radio 570 WKBN.
0:08
Speaker 2: All right, Heidi Ho, 306 here on a Wednesday afternoon.
0:11
Speaker 2: It's June 3rd already. And we're sitting, it's a gorgeous
0:15
Speaker 2: day outside, 82 degrees on this Wednesday afternoon. Hump Day,
0:19
Speaker 2: as they say. And so we'll be with you until
0:21
Speaker 2: we solve the world's problems. We hope to have that
0:23
Speaker 2: done by 6.30 tonight, okay? But if it takes us
0:27
Speaker 2: staying until midnight to solve the world's problems, we're willing
0:30
Speaker 2: to stay if that's what it's going to take to
0:32
Speaker 2: get the world on the right path. How is it
0:35
Speaker 2: possible in 2026 that you can vote in California yesterday
0:44
Speaker 2: and you still don't really have a good read on
0:48
Speaker 2: the outcomes? How is that possible with technology in 2026?
0:56
Speaker 2: I mean, I realize we don't live in California, but
1:01
Speaker 2: some of this stuff is interesting to watch going on.
1:04
Speaker 2: Spencer Pratt is running against. I don't understand how people
1:08
Speaker 2: vote sometimes. I mean, you take a look at the
1:11
Speaker 2: woman that was the mayor out there during the fire.
1:14
Speaker 2: She was just absolutely horrible. This Karen Bass. I mean,
1:19
Speaker 2: when you look at Karen Bass and listen to her,
1:22
Speaker 2: she wasn't even in the country when these fires took place.
1:25
Speaker 2: And she's the mayor out there. She's totally, she's in Africa.
1:30
Speaker 2: I mean, and when you listen to her talk, she's
1:34
Speaker 2: a dingaling. So you sit there and you say to yourself,
1:38
Speaker 2: how is it that anybody voted for this woman? How
1:42
Speaker 2: could anybody vote for this person? She's like a dingaling.
1:46
Speaker 2: It's like, and she wasn't even there. And yet, she's
1:54
Speaker 2: going to be in a runoff election. But where does
2:00
Speaker 2: all this stuff stand as far as Spencer Pratt, the
2:04
Speaker 2: reality show TV star, who's just Joe Bagadona saying, the
2:09
Speaker 2: job you did sucked. You're a disgrace. All the wasted money,
2:16
Speaker 2: all this nonsense on homelessness. Everything has gotten worse in California.
2:20
Speaker 2: You've got people living on the street, homelessness, drugs being used,
2:25
Speaker 2: the parks you can't use. I mean, if you look
2:28
Speaker 2: at this liberal bastion of governing, how they govern in California,
2:35
Speaker 2: if you just look at it, it's a failure. High taxes...
2:43
Speaker 2: Look at the cost of gasoline. Look at the taxes.
2:47
Speaker 2: And look at the corruption and look at the results.
2:51
Speaker 2: So you're paying all this money and it's just terrible results.
2:58
Speaker 2: And this is a sign of how this liberal mindset
3:01
Speaker 2: functions in California. I mean, it is the liberal mindset.
3:09
Speaker 2: And it's just an absolute disaster. I don't know what
3:13
Speaker 2: else to say about it. I certainly hope and how
3:17
Speaker 2: you would vote to say we want more of that
3:19
Speaker 2: for the last. I just don't understand. When you look at,
3:21
Speaker 2: for example, like a place like Florida. I mean, Ron DeSantis,
3:26
Speaker 2: you look at a governor like him and you just
3:29
Speaker 2: say to yourself, now that's they keep lowering taxes in Florida.
3:35
Speaker 2: They keep lowering taxes in Florida. DeSantis is a governor,
3:39
Speaker 2: and he wants to do something down there when it
3:42
Speaker 2: comes to if you are a Florida resident and you
3:46
Speaker 2: have the homestead exemption, everybody gets it. It's not income-based.
3:50
Speaker 2: It's not age-based. But if you're in Florida and you
3:53
Speaker 2: get the homestead exemption, he wants to almost eliminate property, well,
3:59
Speaker 2: potentially eliminate property taxes and or significant reductions in them.
4:08
Speaker 2: And you just look at, why would you want to, California,
4:13
Speaker 2: great weather and all that kind of stuff, but why
4:15
Speaker 2: would you want to stay there with the cost of living,
4:17
Speaker 2: what gasoline costs, with what the liberal leadership has done
4:21
Speaker 2: to that area? With their liberal ideas, it's a disaster.
4:26
Speaker 2: It's not like even having a debate about it or
4:28
Speaker 2: we're speculating about it.
4:29
Speaker 3: Look.
4:31
Speaker 2: Look at what they said they were going to do,
4:32
Speaker 2: whether it's Gavin Newsom or Karen Bass. Look at what
4:35
Speaker 2: they said they were going to do. And look at
4:36
Speaker 2: the results. And look at the tax dollars. And look
4:39
Speaker 2: at all these people making money, and a lot of money,
4:42
Speaker 2: for supposedly solving these problems, which never get solved. That
4:48
Speaker 2: is the liberal way in California. Many argue it's the
4:52
Speaker 2: same way in Minnesota. So why would you vote for
4:58
Speaker 2: more of that? I have I cannot understand the voter.
5:02
Speaker 2: And it has to be the low information voter. It
5:05
Speaker 2: simply has to be the low information voter that says, oh,
5:08
Speaker 2: I'm going to vote on name recognition or I'm going
5:10
Speaker 2: to vote on. Is this person black? Is this person white?
5:14
Speaker 2: Is this person Irish? This person gay or some some
5:18
Speaker 2: stupid reason to vote for somebody as opposed to what
5:21
Speaker 2: do they stand for? You listen to this prat who's
5:25
Speaker 2: merely saying, hey, I'm running because she's doing a terrible job,
5:30
Speaker 2: and here's what my problems are. If you follow this
5:32
Speaker 2: at all, I realize it's California, but it's fascinating to
5:35
Speaker 2: follow this because he's running just to say, you've done
5:37
Speaker 2: a terrible job. Here's what my problem is. Here's what
5:41
Speaker 2: should be done. And it's connecting with enough people. I
5:45
Speaker 2: would certainly like to see him run. be victorious in it.
5:49
Speaker 2: But for some reason, he's a Republican, apparently, and that's
5:53
Speaker 2: like a sin in California. When you look at the results,
5:58
Speaker 2: but they say he's gaining a lot of ground with
6:00
Speaker 2: people because he's just making sense. Don't some things go
6:03
Speaker 2: beyond politics, Republican and Democrat? That's why I say to you,
6:06
Speaker 2: Trump won because he connected with people. He was making
6:12
Speaker 2: a case for, I believe, an America first. He was
6:15
Speaker 2: identifying problems that everybody could relate to that were affecting
6:18
Speaker 2: people and was making the world a better place in
6:22
Speaker 2: his first term. And he was making it a better
6:25
Speaker 2: place in America, I should say, a better place in
6:26
Speaker 2: his first term, and America a better place in his
6:29
Speaker 2: second term until he got involved in this war. If
6:34
Speaker 2: he would have never got involved in this war, I
6:36
Speaker 2: can't imagine what gas prices would be. I guarantee you
6:39
Speaker 2: they would be $ 2. 50 or less. And inflation was coming down.
6:47
Speaker 2: So this war is a game changer for him. And
6:51
Speaker 2: we shall see what happens here as far as the
6:54
Speaker 2: outcome is concerned. We shall see. I mean, there's so
6:58
Speaker 2: much uncertainty going on as a result of it. So
7:02
Speaker 2: we'll give it some time. But how can in 2026,
7:05
Speaker 2: I go back to say, how can you still be saying, well,
7:08
Speaker 2: what's the vote count? I mean, it's just unbelievable. with
7:12
Speaker 2: today's technology that they're just so backward and all of
7:18
Speaker 2: this kind of stuff that they can't get this stuff
7:20
Speaker 2: counted faster. And right off the bat, you suspect shenanigans.
7:25
Speaker 2: Whenever something has taken this long, you're saying, okay, what's
7:30
Speaker 2: going on here? What's the story here? Tech CEO arrested
7:36
Speaker 2: for allegedly supplying equipment for Iran's nuclear and military programs. Well,
7:44
Speaker 2: why would somebody do something like that, you say? Who knows?
7:52
Speaker 4: U.S.
7:52
Speaker 2: Forces shoot down Iranian missiles, drones in response to fresh
7:57
Speaker 2: attacks on Kuwait. So there you go. A California tech
8:05
Speaker 2: company CEO was arrested for allegedly supplying U.S. equipments to
8:09
Speaker 2: Iran's nuclear and military establishments. James Seed Gomi, 63, a
8:18
Speaker 2: dual Iranian and U.S. citizen residing in Newport Coast, California,
8:24
Speaker 2: is charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic
8:28
Speaker 2: Powers Act. He allegedly produced sophisticated U.S. origin networking security
8:38
Speaker 2: and encryption equipment for Iranian customers, including the Iranian regime's
8:43
Speaker 2: nuclear and military establishments. He enriched himself, they say, by
8:49
Speaker 2: supplying U.S. technology to the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran
8:54
Speaker 2: and other sanctioned entities responsible for Iran's nuclear program. But
9:02
Speaker 2: he's an Iranian and U.S. citizen, so should I be
9:04
Speaker 2: shocked by that? Probably not. Probably not. You're on the air.
9:14
Speaker 5: Yeah, I have a lot of updates for Property Tax Initiative.
9:18
Speaker 2: Oh, good.
9:19
Speaker 5: First of all, yeah, I met Dave Thomas last week.
9:21
Speaker 5: He was at the Columbiana Republican Women's Club.
9:24
Speaker 2: Isn't he impressive?
9:26
Speaker 5: He is. I went there to spy on him. I
9:30
Speaker 5: wanted to see what he was saying about our group,
9:31
Speaker 5: which he didn't say anything bad about our group, but
9:33
Speaker 5: I just wanted to make sure. And I met with
9:36
Speaker 5: him after, and everything went well. So, yeah, he's a
9:39
Speaker 5: nice guy.
9:40
Speaker 4: He is.
9:42
Speaker 5: Friday at 8 o'clock, Brian Massey is going to give
9:44
Speaker 5: an update on Ohio Political News YouTube channel. So that's
9:49
Speaker 5: 8 a.m. Friday, June 5th. And, I mean, we know
9:52
Speaker 5: we're going to have to collect for another year, right,
9:54
Speaker 5: because we only have in the 300,000 range. So I
9:58
Speaker 5: called all my permanent signing stations.
9:59
Speaker 2: In the 80s.
10:00
Speaker 5: Counties and everybody's on board for another year.
10:02
Speaker 2: How about that? Don't they have to get to, you
10:05
Speaker 2: have to get so many signatures from four out of
10:08
Speaker 2: 44 of Ohio's 88 counties.
10:09
Speaker 5: We already did that. We already met that.
10:11
Speaker 1: Yeah.
10:12
Speaker 2: So you've met the minimum requirements in the 44 counties.
10:17
Speaker 4: Yep.
10:17
Speaker 5: We surpassed that a long time ago.
10:19
Speaker 2: Yeah. So now you have to, you can get signatures
10:22
Speaker 2: anywhere as long as you can get, what, you want
10:27
Speaker 2: 600,000 roughly valid signatures?
10:29
Speaker 5: Yeah, Brian's not going to feel comfortable submitting any less
10:32
Speaker 5: than that because to clear that bar of 413, 488,
10:36
Speaker 5: you want to make sure, because sometimes they'll throw out 20, 22%.
10:39
Speaker 5: So you really have to make sure you, because once
10:42
Speaker 5: you turn them in, that's it. If you didn't meet the,
10:45
Speaker 5: if you didn't go over the bar, you're back to zero.
10:47
Speaker 3: Right.
10:48
Speaker 2: Right.
10:48
Speaker 5: So we're going to collect for another year and everybody's
10:50
Speaker 5: on board, which, you know, I call people in eight
10:53
Speaker 5: counties and they're all just down with it. So I'm
10:56
Speaker 5: so happy about that. That's a good like bellwether. You know,
10:59
Speaker 5: people are just they're determined in the state of Ohio.
11:04
Speaker 2: I certainly hope so. When you say you want to
11:07
Speaker 2: spy on Dave Thomas, listen, Dave Thomas on a program
11:10
Speaker 2: on a regular basis says the following. What's the spot?
11:13
Speaker 2: He says, basically, he says, a lot of what I'm
11:15
Speaker 2: getting accomplished is out of fear of the effort of
11:18
Speaker 2: what you're doing. I keep saying we should not be
11:22
Speaker 2: a circular firing squad. He has accomplished some incredible things,
11:26
Speaker 2: and he's done this. If your efforts don't succeed or
11:31
Speaker 2: if it gets on a ballot and it fails, his
11:34
Speaker 2: accomplishments will still be there. We should be applauding it
11:38
Speaker 2: for what he's done.
11:40
Speaker 5: I am. I mean, what he says on the radio show,
11:42
Speaker 5: I want to make sure he says the same thing
11:43
Speaker 5: when he goes to all these groups. You know what
11:45
Speaker 5: I mean? That's just good. strategy you got to just
11:49
Speaker 5: make sure it went well he hugged me what can
11:51
Speaker 5: i tell you.
11:52
Speaker 2: Oh he's a very smart guy i think he's like
11:54
Speaker 2: i say he's artist working state rep that i can
11:57
Speaker 2: remember my 41 years here i mean he's he's actually
12:01
Speaker 2: getting stuff accomplished that has benefited every single property taxpayer
12:06
Speaker 2: right now right now currently he's he's done that and
12:09
Speaker 2: he's done it because of the fear of this movement
12:13
Speaker 2: that you have going on.
12:15
Speaker 5: Well, when I asked him, I said, you know, your
12:17
Speaker 5: bill to make it easier to turn townships into cities,
12:20
Speaker 5: do you think that's going to pass? And he does
12:22
Speaker 5: think it's going to pass. He said it'll probably be
12:24
Speaker 5: after voting day in November. But he thinks it'll pass. So,
12:28
Speaker 5: you know, I think that's a really good thing, a
12:30
Speaker 5: forward thing. And I also like that he took some
12:33
Speaker 5: of these schools off the 20-mil floor, including Poland. You know,
12:36
Speaker 5: I mean, I do. I like those things. So I
12:39
Speaker 5: told him.
12:39
Speaker 4: Right.
12:40
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know that people are saying, okay,
12:42
Speaker 2: they want their township to become a city. We shall see.
12:46
Speaker 2: I mean, I can't give you a read on that
12:48
Speaker 2: as far as people are concerned. And believe me, not
12:51
Speaker 2: everybody's going to want to say, let's switch to an
12:53
Speaker 2: income tax off of a property tax, because in some cases,
12:56
Speaker 2: the income tax could cost them a lot more than
12:58
Speaker 2: the property tax. So, I mean, it's a very individual
13:01
Speaker 2: situation for people. The bottom line is, even if you
13:05
Speaker 2: can modify property taxes, but basically... People are saying, get
13:11
Speaker 2: the tax off of our property altogether. We should own it,
13:15
Speaker 2: and the government shouldn't have a say-so in it.
13:17
Speaker 5: Yeah, they shouldn't be able to take our homes. The
13:19
Speaker 5: one thing about Florida, though, I don't know that that
13:21
Speaker 5: includes the education piece. When they say they're getting rid
13:24
Speaker 5: of property taxes, I don't know that that also includes education.
13:28
Speaker 5: I don't know that they went that far.
13:31
Speaker 2: They're supposed to have something on. DeSantis wants to have
13:34
Speaker 2: something on the November ballot. What that is is yet
13:39
Speaker 2: to be determined. But what's interesting is he's the governor
13:42
Speaker 2: championing saying, Listen, for Florida residents, we have got to
13:46
Speaker 2: do something about these property taxes. And I believe I
13:50
Speaker 2: heard him say that every year they're spending less money
13:54
Speaker 2: as state government. They're reducing their spending, and they've done
13:58
Speaker 2: it for several years. I'm thoroughly impressed with DeSantis. I mean,
14:02
Speaker 2: I hate to see him leave as the governor of Florida.
14:06
Speaker 2: I would love to see him run as president. I
14:09
Speaker 2: think he'd make a great president, but... It's sad. Term
14:12
Speaker 2: limits are a good thing and a bad thing. Term limits,
14:15
Speaker 2: term limit a guy like that out of office, and
14:17
Speaker 2: he's an excellent governor, and that's what I don't like
14:19
Speaker 2: about term limits.
14:21
Speaker 5: Right, right. Yeah, so Friday I'm going to be at
14:23
Speaker 5: Rogers Flea Market. If anybody wants to sign the petition.
14:27
Speaker 2: I'll be in. Now, how does that go? I mean,
14:29
Speaker 2: do they get people at the Rogers Flea Market?
14:33
Speaker 5: Oh, sometimes it's mobbed.
14:35
Speaker 4: Really?
14:36
Speaker 5: It's mobbed. Yeah, and this should be a really– it's
14:38
Speaker 5: going to be great weather, so it could be– we
14:41
Speaker 5: could get really slammed this time. Yeah, it's a good
14:45
Speaker 5: place to go. You get a lot of counties, like
14:46
Speaker 5: 15 different counties easily. Yeah, it's good. And then I
14:51
Speaker 5: just want to plug there's a new permanent signing station
14:54
Speaker 5: in East Liverpool. So if you live in East Liverpool,
14:56
Speaker 5: it's called Nana's Primitives. It's on 621 St. Clair Avenue,
15:00
Speaker 5: and they're.
15:01
Speaker 1: Collecting– Youngstown's news, weather, and talk station, 570 WKBN.
15:08
Speaker 2: Looking at the market today, the Dow's down 490. Dow
15:11
Speaker 2: falls 400 points as oil prices and bond yields creep higher.
15:16
Speaker 2: So the Dow's down almost 500. The S & P' s
15:18
Speaker 2: down 45. The Nasdaq's down 227. The Russell's down 38. So,
15:20
Speaker 2: bad day on the markets today. Mad day in the markets.
15:35
Speaker 2: Dow falls 400 points as oil prices and bond yields
15:38
Speaker 2: creep higher. Let's see. Stocks fell. Oil prices following the U.S.
15:44
Speaker 2: and Iran launching new strikes. West Texas intermediate futures rose 2%
15:48
Speaker 2: to 96 per barrel. While Brent crude gained 2% to
15:52
Speaker 2: around 98 per barrel. I told you that's Art Berman speaking.
16:01
Speaker 2: He's a geologist, oil guy. He says that he thinks
16:06
Speaker 2: it's just his opinion. Like they say, he could be right,
16:09
Speaker 2: he could be wrong. He thinks oil could end up
16:12
Speaker 2: being around $ 160 to $ 180 a barrel. If these things
16:16
Speaker 2: aren't resolved by July, this thing drags on. He thinks
16:21
Speaker 2: oil could go into those. I mean, those are pretty
16:25
Speaker 2: significant numbers. I mean, there's some people saying that if
16:29
Speaker 2: this thing drags on, The price of a barrel of
16:33
Speaker 2: oil is going to go up substantially and inflation is
16:35
Speaker 2: going to come back. It'll be spin your head. And God,
16:40
Speaker 2: I hope that's not the case. Trump said on Wednesday
16:45
Speaker 2: that Iran agreed to not have nuclear weapons, but he
16:48
Speaker 2: added they can change their mind. Okay, so they didn't
16:51
Speaker 2: agree to anything if they can change their mind. The
16:56
Speaker 2: president's comments came after the conflict in the Middle East
16:59
Speaker 2: grew more intense and pushed oil prices higher. I think
17:04
Speaker 2: Iran is saying, Iran might have the strategy of we'll
17:08
Speaker 2: kind of hold off until we get close to the midterms. Iran,
17:14
Speaker 2: I think their philosophy might be time is on our side.
17:20
Speaker 2: Because as much as you're devastating us, we'll devastate you economically.
17:24
Speaker 4: Right.
17:25
Speaker 2: And you'll pay a price during the midterms, and people
17:29
Speaker 2: will pay a price as well. Financially, we shall see.
17:32
Speaker 2: You're on the air. Hi there.
17:36
Speaker 4: On this beautiful, gorgeous day, huh?
17:38
Speaker 2: It is a gorgeous day. Thank you for calling.
17:40
Speaker 4: The wind was about three miles. If the wind out
17:43
Speaker 4: there would go about three miles an hour, it would
17:46
Speaker 4: be a beautiful kite day.
17:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, but, I mean, would it blow off your toupee?
17:51
Speaker 4: I don't have a toupee.
17:53
Speaker 2: Just kidding.
17:54
Speaker 1: Okay.
17:55
Speaker 4: I know, I know, I know. I don't think we
17:57
Speaker 4: should worry about California and their mother state. They're trying
18:00
Speaker 4: to figure their stuff out just like we're trying to
18:02
Speaker 4: figure ours. But what I don't understand is why did
18:06
Speaker 4: the electric companies that we're buying electricity off of say
18:11
Speaker 4: they have to have a raise after what they did
18:14
Speaker 4: to us quite a few years back? And yet now
18:19
Speaker 4: they're out there begging for a raise so that they
18:22
Speaker 4: can continue on with what they got. It was not
18:25
Speaker 4: our fault that they lost all that money. And now
18:29
Speaker 4: they want to make it up. I don't think that's fair.
18:31
Speaker 4: I tell them, suffer.
18:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, but the problem is you need them and you
18:36
Speaker 2: end up suffering if they don't. It's not one of
18:39
Speaker 2: those businesses that can go out of business, let's put
18:41
Speaker 2: it that way. Well, you're paying more for the electricity
18:45
Speaker 2: period because of the supply and demand that's going on
18:48
Speaker 2: for it now. So, I mean, the cost of my
18:51
Speaker 2: electricity has doubled. It used to be roughly... a little
18:54
Speaker 2: under a nickel, and now it's more close to a dime.
18:57
Speaker 2: So it's doubled in cost, just the electricity itself. Now,
19:01
Speaker 2: if you're talking about they want more money for the
19:03
Speaker 2: transmission part of it, is that what you're talking about?
19:05
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, whatever they want to do. I mean, people
19:09
Speaker 4: are out there trying to put up, you know, solar
19:12
Speaker 4: panels to help cut their bill, and the guy wanted
19:14
Speaker 4: to build a farm to put solar panels up. They
19:17
Speaker 4: cut him off on that. All that would have dumped
19:19
Speaker 4: right in and would have helped ease the burden of
19:23
Speaker 4: Of them getting electricity.
19:24
Speaker 2: Stand by for me. Stand by. I'm going to come
19:26
Speaker 2: back to him after the break. And he's an interesting gentleman.
19:30
Speaker 2: More to come with him right after this.
19:32
Speaker 6: Saturday 8 to noon.
19:33
Speaker 2: News Radio 570 WKVN. News Radio 570 WKVN. Ron Verp, 334-56.
19:37
Speaker 2: There you go. I'm learning how to tell time. It's 336.
19:38
Speaker 2: It's June 3rd.
19:38
Speaker 1: It's 81 degrees.
19:40
Speaker 2: Five six there you go i'm learning how to tell
19:45
Speaker 2: time it's 3 36 it's june 3rd it's 81 degrees
19:49
Speaker 2: and let me go back and check in with this
19:52
Speaker 2: guy so i i've for some reason i find you
19:55
Speaker 2: intriguing just to bear with me for a bit roughly
19:58
Speaker 2: how old are you 74 all right and you and
20:04
Speaker 2: you're retired And would you describe yourself, how would you
20:08
Speaker 2: describe yourself as a liberal, conservative, moderate, from a political viewpoint?
20:17
Speaker 4: I am a Republican that is moderate. Not a moderate Republican.
20:21
Speaker 4: I'm a Republican that is moderate. But by the way
20:26
Speaker 4: we can vote for presidents in the United States, I
20:29
Speaker 4: can vote to the Democratic side, if I wish.
20:32
Speaker 2: All right. And how do you assess, at 74... When
20:36
Speaker 2: you look at things today, how do you think things
20:38
Speaker 2: are going?
20:40
Speaker 4: Not well. Not well at all. You see, in my
20:43
Speaker 4: line of thinking, I've watched over this stuff for many years. Many,
20:50
Speaker 4: many years. And I've seen the biggest takeaway I get
20:54
Speaker 4: from it is that this country is in a fight.
20:58
Speaker 4: And the fight is corporations and millionaires. And they want
21:04
Speaker 4: to tell people, woe was me when I got to
21:07
Speaker 4: pay more taxes, but did any woe was me when
21:12
Speaker 4: I got a paycheck, when I made the overtime? No,
21:16
Speaker 4: I had to pay my fair share. And yet these
21:19
Speaker 4: guys continuously want, but when they do, and at the
21:22
Speaker 4: end of the year, and I've been, like I said,
21:24
Speaker 4: 30 years I've been watching this, every time them big
21:27
Speaker 4: corporations at the end of the year, oh, well, we
21:31
Speaker 4: paid this much in taxes, but again... That's a two-sided knife. Meaning,
21:39
Speaker 4: if they decide they crunch the numbers, we're going to
21:42
Speaker 4: have to pay a million dollars in taxes, but we'll
21:46
Speaker 4: give it to a non-profit organization and we can deduct it.
21:51
Speaker 4: And that's okay because that's the way the tax law
21:53
Speaker 4: is written. But it's because the same thing can be
21:57
Speaker 4: done for me depending on what I make. But the
22:03
Speaker 4: biggest problems went all the way back to Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt.
22:09
Speaker 4: He went after them because they weren't paying their fair share,
22:12
Speaker 4: and they said, we pay so much now. And it's
22:17
Speaker 4: always been a fight between big business, big money, and
22:21
Speaker 4: the man working on the ground. And I've seen that
22:27
Speaker 4: time and time and time again, not just where I work,
22:31
Speaker 4: but all over the United States in big corporations and
22:34
Speaker 4: big money. And we've always had that fight. And every
22:37
Speaker 4: time we get to go to somebody who's going to
22:39
Speaker 4: say they're going to do something about it, somehow it
22:43
Speaker 4: never comes. It just never comes. Now, take, for instance,
22:48
Speaker 4: they're talking about taking away the early voting through ballots.
22:56
Speaker 4: The state of Ohio... Impressively, like many, many, many states,
23:03
Speaker 4: their results of showing people who shouldn't have voted or
23:08
Speaker 4: voted illegally were found, sought out, and it was discussed.
23:15
Speaker 4: It got straightened out. But you take certain states that,
23:21
Speaker 4: and they're seeing it now, and hopefully they'll straighten that out.
23:27
Speaker 4: It evolves. It keeps going on. Just like you and me,
23:30
Speaker 4: we evolve. And we can't help but evolve because we
23:34
Speaker 4: have to evolve either in a negative way or a
23:37
Speaker 4: positive way. And most of the time we try to
23:40
Speaker 4: evolve in a positive way.
23:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, because as you grow older, you become wiser, hopefully,
23:48
Speaker 2: and you learn more and you can change your opinion
23:49
Speaker 2: or times change or things change. Nothing stays..
23:53
Speaker 4: Math, they teach you how to do math, so when
23:56
Speaker 4: it comes down to math, it took my granddaughter, nine
23:59
Speaker 4: years old, to teach me how to do the math
24:01
Speaker 4: the way they did it, and I was absolutely, wow,
24:04
Speaker 4: that works.
24:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, but would you say, though, part of the problem
24:09
Speaker 2: might be a spending problem more than a taxing problem?
24:13
Speaker 4: I believe the biggest major problem is we don't have
24:19
Speaker 4: enough people to follow up with who is getting this
24:25
Speaker 4: free or half-free money. And we just don't have enough
24:33
Speaker 4: people to take down or take a look, okay, we're
24:37
Speaker 4: going to look at Smojo. What kind of money does
24:40
Speaker 4: he really make? Does he deserve food stamps? Does he
24:44
Speaker 4: deserve health programs? You know, that sort of stuff. We
24:47
Speaker 4: don't have enough people to measure out the real differences here.
24:50
Speaker 2: But..
24:51
Speaker 4: The conservative Republicans, oh, we've got to cut government. We've
24:55
Speaker 4: got to cut government. So when you've got to cut government,
24:57
Speaker 4: I mean, how many years now does it take for
24:59
Speaker 4: income taxes to be checked out? We just did ours.
25:05
Speaker 4: Now it's going to take seven to nine years before
25:08
Speaker 4: they can even get to you or me, most likely.
25:11
Speaker 4: It's like they get this big, huge barrel, and each
25:15
Speaker 4: person gets to reach in and pull out a name
25:17
Speaker 4: or a company. Okay, we'll do their taxes. And if
25:21
Speaker 4: their taxes come out wrong, okay, we caught them. But
25:23
Speaker 4: what about the other group that they didn't catch? We
25:30
Speaker 4: don't have enough people to look over other people's shoulders
25:33
Speaker 4: to make sure the job is done.
25:35
Speaker 2: Right. In other words, we should have more investigators to
25:39
Speaker 2: make sure that people that are ripping us off... Well,
25:43
Speaker 2: we can see it both in Minnesota, we can see
25:45
Speaker 2: it in Ohio, where people are literally making millions of dollars... fraudulently,
25:51
Speaker 2: where these Somalian communities, and people aren't checking up on
25:55
Speaker 2: their leering centers or their hospices or their autism centers.
26:01
Speaker 4: You're right. Up there, they got caught because they were
26:04
Speaker 4: able to get away with it, but it was American citizens.
26:09
Speaker 4: who actually were doing most of it. It wasn't all
26:11
Speaker 4: just Somalians.
26:12
Speaker 2: Well, no, I mean, in large part it was the
26:14
Speaker 2: Somalian community. Just as we're coming to find out, I'm
26:18
Speaker 2: not saying that there aren't some Americans involved in it, too,
26:20
Speaker 2: but in large part we're finding the same communities involved
26:23
Speaker 2: in it in the state of Ohio. What you're saying is,
26:26
Speaker 2: and I agree, where was the follow-up to somebody actually
26:30
Speaker 2: going to see, does this person have, is this elderly person,
26:36
Speaker 2: Have a family relative that's given him care and what
26:38
Speaker 2: type of care? Or is there really a hospice center here?
26:42
Speaker 2: Or is there really something dealing with autism here as
26:44
Speaker 2: opposed to these phony storefronts and this kind of stuff?
26:49
Speaker 2: I'm in total agreement with you. But in general, don't
26:51
Speaker 2: you think government's gotten too big when I say it's
26:54
Speaker 2: a spending problem? I don't think everybody's problems should become
26:58
Speaker 2: my problems. I don't think it's up to me to
27:00
Speaker 2: pay taxes to solve everybody's problems. Don't you think that
27:04
Speaker 2: there should be consequences to your actions and you have
27:07
Speaker 2: to live with it? It's not up to me to
27:09
Speaker 2: say we're taking more of your money because of the
27:12
Speaker 2: dumb decisions this person made.
27:13
Speaker 4: Okay, I understand what you're saying. And yes, I agree,
27:20
Speaker 4: but half-heartedly. Many years ago when I came here to
27:23
Speaker 4: this state, and I was in desperate need of food stamps.
27:30
Speaker 4: That's all I wanted. So I'm sitting in a parking
27:33
Speaker 4: lot with my gas tank on three gallons, and it's
27:36
Speaker 4: going to take me a gallon and a half to
27:38
Speaker 4: get back to where I'm at. So here I am looking,
27:41
Speaker 4: and I'm saying, I don't want to do this. I
27:42
Speaker 4: shouldn't have to do this. I can't find a job,
27:45
Speaker 4: but So finally a woman pulls up in a cotton-picking
27:49
Speaker 4: brand-new Cadillac with her 60- or 90-day or what a
27:53
Speaker 4: 30-day tags on it. She gets out, opens up the trunk,
27:57
Speaker 4: pulls out a nasty coat, nasty pair of pants, takes
28:01
Speaker 4: her shoes off, puts some nasty shoes on. I beat
28:04
Speaker 4: her to the door. Only to find out when I
28:08
Speaker 4: sat down next to her that here she was working
28:12
Speaker 4: for General Motors. So let's take this now. Six more
28:20
Speaker 4: years later, I got caught in a jam because I
28:22
Speaker 4: got laid off at work. So I went in, and
28:26
Speaker 4: I said, I need food stamps. The girl looked at
28:29
Speaker 4: me and says, well, we have all this other. I
28:32
Speaker 4: don't need the others. I need food to put on
28:35
Speaker 4: the table. And an argument commenced. I says, no, dear,
28:40
Speaker 4: I don't need that. I'm barely getting by with unemployment.
28:45
Speaker 4: But I can get by and push my way through,
28:48
Speaker 4: and when I get back to work, I'll do my bills,
28:51
Speaker 4: like most people would do. But some people, okay, well, yeah,
28:55
Speaker 4: I paid into it. I should have it. I should
28:58
Speaker 4: get it. Well, I didn't. A few years later, the
29:02
Speaker 4: same thing happened. That's when Reagan stepped in. And the
29:05
Speaker 4: next thing I know, I'm laid off. I go in
29:08
Speaker 4: and get the food stamps. I see a lady. She's
29:10
Speaker 4: sitting in front of me. She's going to check all
29:12
Speaker 4: the paperwork out. I says, all I want is food stamps.
29:16
Speaker 4: She denied me the food stamps. I had all the
29:19
Speaker 4: material there, so I asked for her supervisor. Supervisor came
29:23
Speaker 4: down and said, what seems to be the problem? I said,
29:26
Speaker 4: take a look at my paperwork. I said, all I
29:29
Speaker 4: want is food stamps. He said, you don't want anything else?
29:31
Speaker 3: No.
29:32
Speaker 4: Well, then he looked over at the woman that was
29:34
Speaker 4: administrating the whole thing and checking it out, and he said, well,
29:37
Speaker 4: what seems to be the problem here? Now, this is
29:41
Speaker 4: the truth. She said he works for this company, and
29:49
Speaker 4: my husband worked for the same company, and he hid money.
29:53
Speaker 4: My ex-husband hid money. He looked at her and frowned, said,
29:58
Speaker 4: sign it. She signed it, and then he signed it,
30:03
Speaker 4: and I got my food stamps. Later on in the year,
30:06
Speaker 4: they changed the whole thing where all you had to
30:09
Speaker 4: do was mail it in. So I went back to
30:12
Speaker 4: work in April, told them I was at work. I
30:16
Speaker 4: got to work two weeks to get a paycheck. So
30:19
Speaker 4: I said, well, we'll get through this. The next thing
30:23
Speaker 4: I know, I get food stamps May, June, July, August, September. Now,
30:29
Speaker 4: my wife's a nervous wreck. We have all these food stamps.
30:32
Speaker 4: You've been sending all the paperwork. Has it been right? Well,
30:36
Speaker 4: when I got the food stamps the second time, I
30:38
Speaker 4: started copying all the paperwork.
30:42
Speaker 2: Yeah.
30:43
Speaker 4: And I went back in. Anyhow, they come back in.
30:45
Speaker 4: I went to bring the food stamps in, took a
30:46
Speaker 4: day off, went in, got it all checked out. She says,
30:49
Speaker 4: I don't understand this. I said, get the supervisor back.
30:52
Speaker 4: He come back. And I said to him what had happened.
30:55
Speaker 4: He said, I don't understand this either, sir. Well, I
30:58
Speaker 4: picked up this little brown bag, put it up there,
30:59
Speaker 4: and pulled all the food stamps out that I wasn't
31:01
Speaker 4: really supposed to get. His answer, now grab this, his
31:07
Speaker 4: answer is, we have no paperwork for you to give
31:12
Speaker 4: us back the food stamps. Check, countercheck. You see what
31:20
Speaker 4: I'm saying?
31:20
Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
31:21
Speaker 4: So this is why we need people to look over people. Somehow,
31:26
Speaker 4: I kept getting missed. And they said, well, go ahead
31:32
Speaker 4: and use them. You got to go ahead and use them.
31:35
Speaker 4: In years to come, you'll be working and you'll be
31:36
Speaker 4: paying it all back. So, I mean, it's a matter of,
31:43
Speaker 4: like you said, we didn't have enough people. COVID came
31:46
Speaker 4: in and they just rubber-stamped the checks going out the door.
31:49
Speaker 4: because we didn't have enough people. We still don't have
31:53
Speaker 4: enough people to catch fraud. And then when this administration
31:57
Speaker 4: started screaming fraud, fraud, fraud, fraud, fraud, now we got
32:01
Speaker 4: a bunch of people that were taking off other jobs
32:04
Speaker 4: instead of hiring other people to look for the fraudsters.
32:07
Speaker 4: Now they've got to take their time away from what
32:10
Speaker 4: they were doing, which God only knows must be needed
32:13
Speaker 4: because they wouldn't have a job. And they're looking for fraudsters.
32:19
Speaker 4: And guess what? Now we're finding them. Now we're out
32:23
Speaker 4: in hot pursuit. So it's not an easy answer. But
32:31
Speaker 4: like I'm saying, big money, big corporations think they run
32:35
Speaker 4: this country. They're the only ones that know how to
32:37
Speaker 4: make this country work. And all over the world and
32:41
Speaker 4: in major countries, they're not really having this kind of
32:45
Speaker 4: problem because they sought it out and they fixed it.
32:49
Speaker 4: as the best they can, like anything else that evolved.
32:52
Speaker 4: But it never evolves here in the United States.
32:58
Speaker 2: When you were working and you would go on strike,
33:01
Speaker 2: I mean, when you were not working, that's because you
33:03
Speaker 2: guys were on strike?
33:06
Speaker 4: No, sir. The company said when Reagan stepped in there,
33:11
Speaker 4: they were allowed to go all the way back to
33:16
Speaker 4: the era of depression and get rid of people. and
33:19
Speaker 4: just barely get by with skeleton crews here and there.
33:21
Speaker 2: All right, so you lost your job? Is that right?
33:24
Speaker 4: No, I got laid off.
33:25
Speaker 2: Okay, you got laid off from General Motors.
33:28
Speaker 4: Well, I'm not going to say because it's... Well, I mean,
33:31
Speaker 4: I assume.
33:32
Speaker 2: I don't know if I'm right or not. But you
33:35
Speaker 2: got laid off.
33:37
Speaker 4: Correct.
33:38
Speaker 2: After working how long?
33:41
Speaker 4: I was into my sixth or seventh year. Okay.
33:45
Speaker 2: Okay. All right. And how long did it take you
33:49
Speaker 2: to find another job, or did you wait until they
33:51
Speaker 2: called you back?
33:52
Speaker 4: Oh, I had to go look for other jobs, and
33:53
Speaker 4: I worked here a little bit, there a little bit.
33:57
Speaker 4: And then I got called back. Most of the time
34:00
Speaker 4: was always in April. And then after that year, I
34:05
Speaker 4: never was laid off again, thank God.
34:11
Speaker 2: All right. And your assessment today is? that things were
34:20
Speaker 2: in bad shape today, in your opinion?
34:23
Speaker 4: Oh, yes, they are. I mean, there should be, in
34:26
Speaker 4: my mind, if we make 20 million barrels of fuel
34:32
Speaker 4: a day extra, and Trump is now going into that
34:37
Speaker 4: emergency strategic oil now, he's been into it three times.
34:42
Speaker 4: It's at its lowest peak it's ever been.
34:44
Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
34:46
Speaker 4: And there's no sign and there's nothing in course to
34:50
Speaker 4: replenish it. It's going to be the next president's job
34:53
Speaker 4: and the president after him to rebuild that just to
34:57
Speaker 4: keep the prices down.
35:01
Speaker 2: All right. So you're concerned about the prices going up
35:04
Speaker 2: and inflation, obviously.
35:05
Speaker 5: Oh, yeah.
35:06
Speaker 4: Well, here's the other part. If these big businesses take
35:12
Speaker 4: a look. Oh, well, they got used to paying that much.
35:16
Speaker 4: We'll just lower it down to $ 0. 50 or $ 0.
35:18
Speaker 2: 75.
35:18
Speaker 4: And we'll still end up having to pay. And their
35:22
Speaker 4: profits will be bigger.
35:23
Speaker 2: Gotcha.
35:25
Speaker 3: Yep.
35:25
Speaker 2: All right. I got you. All right. Thank you. Appreciate it.
35:28
Speaker 2: Thanks for your call.
35:30
Speaker 4: Have a nice day.
35:31
Speaker 2: U2 News Radio 570 WQEN. And Ron Verp, 352 in
35:32
Speaker 2: the afternoon. There's 74 years on the planets in his
35:39
Speaker 2: assessment of how things are and should be. 82 Degrees,
35:42
Speaker 2: Ron Furp from the Kingdom of Mahoning with you here
35:45
Speaker 2: on a beautiful Wednesday. News Radio 570 WKBN. Ron Furp,
35:50
Speaker 2: 356 in the afternoon, and you're on air.
35:53
Speaker 7: Mr. Furp, how are you?
35:55
Speaker 2: I am well. I am very well. Thank you for asking.
35:59
Speaker 7: I just want you to know that it is not
36:02
Speaker 7: my problem that First Energy got caught cheating. I should
36:08
Speaker 7: not have to pay extra because of them getting caught.
36:13
Speaker 7: It works both ways, buddy. But you know what? I
36:18
Speaker 7: need Ohio Edison.
36:19
Speaker 4: We all do.
36:20
Speaker 7: And that's what they know. They got you. So it's
36:23
Speaker 7: not my problem they got caught along with the speaker
36:28
Speaker 7: of the Ohio House, Householder, with all the stuff that
36:33
Speaker 7: was going on a couple years ago.
36:35
Speaker 2: Right, but if you take a look, A householder went
36:38
Speaker 2: to jail. The guys from Ohio Edison all lost their jobs.
36:42
Speaker 2: And I forget what penalties that they had to pay.
36:45
Speaker 2: There was justice that came out.
36:47
Speaker 7: Yeah, they paid $ 278 million.
36:50
Speaker 2: I mean, they all got... No, they all didn't get.
36:55
Speaker 7: Two or three of them committed suicide.
36:57
Speaker 2: Right, but the people that were involved in it all
37:01
Speaker 2: paid a dear price for it. And, I mean, that
37:04
Speaker 2: is what justice is all about. So you should be pleased.
37:08
Speaker 7: I think, aren't you overlooking it? They want to get
37:13
Speaker 7: that $ 278 million back. That's why your KWH on your electric.
37:19
Speaker 4: Bill is double.
37:22
Speaker 2: No, that isn't why. You are paying more for electricity.
37:26
Speaker 2: And I sincerely, let's put politics out of it, because...
37:31
Speaker 2: It is a supply and demand issue, but I'm just
37:33
Speaker 2: trying to be straightforward with you. The war on coal
37:37
Speaker 2: was a real thing that happened.
37:40
Speaker 7: I don't want to get into the war.
37:41
Speaker 2: No, but I mean it's important for you to understand
37:45
Speaker 2: why you're paying more. You don't want to hear the
37:47
Speaker 2: reason for it.
37:48
Speaker 7: But you say you don't want to get political. That
37:50
Speaker 7: is as political as you can get.
37:53
Speaker 2: But if I say to you... That Obama and Clinton
37:57
Speaker 2: and John Kerry and Biden, that they wanted..
38:01
Speaker 7: I don't believe any of that.
38:04
Speaker 2: Well, do you remember the war on coal?
38:06
Speaker 7: I don't believe any of it. I'm sorry, but I don't.
38:08
Speaker 2: Well, why do you think they regulated that Samus plant
38:11
Speaker 2: out of business with all the scrubbers on? and insisted
38:14
Speaker 2: it be torn down without anything to replace it. That
38:18
Speaker 2: was the Obama administration that did that. I mean, why
38:21
Speaker 2: do you, you can say to yourself... We'll stand by,
38:27
Speaker 2: just stand by, just stand by. Hang on, I'm going
38:30
Speaker 2: to come back to you and talk to you some more.
38:32
Speaker 2: Let me get my headlines out of the way, and
38:33
Speaker 2: then I'll come back and talk to him some more
38:36
Speaker 2: after this.
38:41
Speaker 3: From ABC News, I'm Michelle Franzen. Iran and the U.S.
38:44
Speaker 3: trading strikes, this time in Kuwait. The Pentagon says it
38:47
Speaker 3: shot down drones targeting U.S. forces in Kuwait. Kuwaiti's airport
38:51
Speaker 3: also heavily damaged. ABC's Karen Travers has more on new
38:55
Speaker 3: remarks by President Trump.
38:56
Speaker 8: In a new podcast interview that was released today, the
38:58
Speaker 8: president has said he hadn't made up his mind about
39:01
Speaker 8: making a deal with Iran or potentially going back to
39:04
Speaker 8: major combat operations and major strikes against Iran. He was
39:07
Speaker 8: asked what that would do. He said it would achieve certainty.
39:11
Speaker 8: But I do think it's important to underline here. We've
39:13
Speaker 8: heard the president repeatedly, every time he talks about this situation,
39:17
Speaker 8: say that Iran's military capabilities are have been decimated, but
39:21
Speaker 8: what we see with these strikes overnight show that they
39:24
Speaker 8: still have capabilities to carry out something that can have
39:27
Speaker 8: deadly consequences.
39:28
Speaker 3: The Senate could start voting as early as tonight on
39:30
Speaker 3: legislation to fund immigration enforcement agencies. Voting put on hold
39:35
Speaker 3: over bipartisan backlash of President Trump's so-called anti-weaponization fund created
39:40
Speaker 3: as part of a settlement related to President Trump's IRS case.
39:44
Speaker 3: The president and DOJ have since nixed the fund after
39:46
Speaker 3: a judge put a temporary freeze on the $ 1. 8 billion.
39:49
Speaker 3: Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen on Capitol Hill testifying
39:55
Speaker 3: about immigration operations, along with security preps for the World Cup,
39:59
Speaker 3: which kicks off next week. Mullen says they're ready, but
40:02
Speaker 3: there are challenges for what he likened to 78 Super
40:05
Speaker 3: Bowls across U.S. cities over the next month.
40:07
Speaker 6: I feel very comfortable where we're at, and we feel
40:09
Speaker 6: like we have a zero-fail mission, but it's going to
40:11
Speaker 6: be complicated. We have seven Five to seven million visitors
40:15
Speaker 6: coming in. We have some very complicated countries that are
40:18
Speaker 6: going to be playing each other that have a tremendous
40:20
Speaker 6: amount of dislike against each other.
40:22
Speaker 3: In California, a hostage standoff and bomb threat at a
40:25
Speaker 3: bank in downtown Bakersfield is over. Police say the suspect
40:29
Speaker 3: is dead. All 10 hostages were released unharmed. Police say
40:33
Speaker 3: they don't have a motive. On Wall Street, stocks ending
40:36
Speaker 3: lower today. You're listening to ABC News.