Latest / The Bill Handel Show / Chances of All-GOP Governor’s Race | Commuting is Becoming Unaffordable

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Chances of All-GOP Governor’s Race | Commuting is Becoming Unaffordable · The Bill Handel Show

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Speaker 1: You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
0:05
Speaker 1: six forty. Good morning, everybody. It is a Monday morning,
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Speaker 1: May eleventh, as we start the week, Now, California governor's
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Speaker 1: race is probably the most interesting one in decades. And
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Speaker 1: the reason is, for the first time that I can
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Speaker 1: think of, the two front runners are two Republicans. Now
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Speaker 1: why is that important? Because in twenty ten, we California
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Speaker 1: voters passed Proposition fourteen that says the top two recipients
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Speaker 1: of the votes in California get to run off in
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Speaker 1: the general election. And according to Prop fourteen, if the
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Speaker 1: top two are Republican, or they're both Democrats, or one
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Speaker 1: is a Republican one is a Democrat, those top two
0:57
Speaker 1: then move on and we get a voice. And it
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Speaker 1: looks like we may well get a choice of two Republicans. Wow.
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Speaker 1: Now keep in mind that overwhelming number of voters in
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Speaker 1: California are Democrats. So how is it possible that two
1:15
Speaker 1: Republicans might be on the ballot. Well, because you have
1:21
Speaker 1: two major players in the Republican Party and you have
1:24
Speaker 1: five major players in the Democratic Party. And so here
1:29
Speaker 1: you go. You have the followers of the five each
1:31
Speaker 1: voting for their person and they split the vote versus
1:36
Speaker 1: only two Republicans. So the five are cannibalizing each other
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Speaker 1: and they may not make the vote. They may not
1:45
Speaker 1: make it in the top two. And now, the reason
1:49
Speaker 1: it was passed, or we were told, is to help
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Speaker 1: end partisan gridlock in Sacramento and force candidates and primaries
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Speaker 1: to appeal to a wider range of voters. I don't
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Speaker 1: buy that for a minute. It was to make sure
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Speaker 1: that only a Democrat is voted in because of the
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Speaker 1: number of Democrats in California. Okay, so we've got some choices,
2:14
Speaker 1: don't we. And I'm going to spend a moment or
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Speaker 1: two talking about who is running. And some front runners
2:21
Speaker 1: have come out, because in California, anybody can run for governor,
2:26
Speaker 1: and there's always crazy people that run. And you have
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Speaker 1: the well running for president. It used to cost two
2:33
Speaker 1: hundred dollars to a file with the Election Commission, and
2:37
Speaker 1: you were on the ballot or could be on the ballot,
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Speaker 1: and then the rules change and you can't get coverage
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Speaker 1: on television or any debate involvement unless you got five
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Speaker 1: percent of the registered voter. And there's a bunch of
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Speaker 1: bunch of formulas but anybody could. I think now it's
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Speaker 1: four thousand dollars to pay for an entry into the
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Speaker 1: presidential run, and I just love the crazy people that
3:03
Speaker 1: do it. My favorite is in Great Britain, because the
3:08
Speaker 1: Prime Minister of Britain is elected by the party in power,
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Speaker 1: not by the electorate we elect, well theoretically we elect
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Speaker 1: if you don't count the electoral college, but it is
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Speaker 1: the vote of the people with some differentiation, which really
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Speaker 1: screws it up. But you go to Great Britain and
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Speaker 1: the Prime Minister is simply effectively a member of Congress
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Speaker 1: and has to run every four years, has to run
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Speaker 1: like anybody else, and anybody can claim that they want
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Speaker 1: to run for the MP position. They're congress member of Parliament.
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Speaker 1: And there's some great photos of Margaret Thatcher running in
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Speaker 1: her district and since anybody can run again there she
4:01
Speaker 1: is on the stage during one of the debates in
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Speaker 1: Great Britain and she's running against someone dressed as the
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Speaker 1: Tin Man, someone who is dressed as Abraham Lincoln, people
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Speaker 1: who are homeless, and that's England. It's a lot better.
4:19
Speaker 1: I think it's hilarious. So who are the leading candidates
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Speaker 1: of the Democrats Savior Bessera, former US Health Secretary, former
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Speaker 1: state Attorney General, represented LA in Congress more than two decades.
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Speaker 1: Appointed attorney general in twenty seventeen. A Democrat, A liberal Democrat,
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Speaker 1: Chan Bianco, Riverside County sheriff, a Trumpist of the First
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Speaker 1: Water and he is hoping that there are enough trumpest
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Speaker 1: voters out there to put him in the running. Then
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Speaker 1: you have Steve Hilton, who's also front runner. He is
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Speaker 1: advisor to UK or was advisor to UK Prime Minister,
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Speaker 1: former and former Fox News host. He's a brit and
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Speaker 1: came the United States, moved to California, and he was
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Speaker 1: He's conservative, very conservative. So he's one. Matt Mahon, the
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Speaker 1: mayor of San Jose who's going to disappear very very quickly.
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Speaker 1: He was a voter engagement person in Silicon Valley before
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Speaker 1: joining the San Jose City Council and became mayor in
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Speaker 1: twenty thirteen. Katie Porter, who has some interesting issues. She's
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Speaker 1: a Democrat, professor of law at UC Irvine, former congressperson
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Speaker 1: from Orange County, and she flipped a longtime Republican congressional
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Speaker 1: seat in Orange County. She has some issues coming into
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Speaker 1: this because of her temper and how she yelled at
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Speaker 1: a newsperson and one of her staffers. Then you have
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Speaker 1: Antonio Viada Gosa, former mayor of Los Angeles and he
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Speaker 1: was also Speaker of the State Assembly in the late
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Speaker 1: nineteen nineties, after which he became former mayor, and his
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Speaker 1: press conference came out of a pothole that he was
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Speaker 1: in because he was the million dollar pothole mayor. He
6:20
Speaker 1: ran on the premise that he was going to fix
6:24
Speaker 1: a million potholes. Yeah, right, that came close. And then
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Speaker 1: finally you've got Tom Steyer, who is trying to buy
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Speaker 1: his way in as a Democrat. He's a billionaire who
6:35
Speaker 1: made his fortune at a hedge fund. He invested in
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Speaker 1: private prisons and fossil fuel production. So he's getting nailed
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Speaker 1: as someone who is running on a ticket where he,
6:50
Speaker 1: as a matter of fact, fought the Democratic ideals and
6:53
Speaker 1: he has become a climate change activist for real. So
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Speaker 1: who And then there's Tony Thurman, who is basically not
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Speaker 1: going to happen. So you have these Democrats and it
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Speaker 1: looks like there's some front runners happening happening at this point,
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Speaker 1: Zievrasera and Katie Porter we'll see who you vote, which
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Speaker 1: one you vote for. So it's going to boil down
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Speaker 1: to a Democrat or several Democrats are going to have
7:20
Speaker 1: to drop out of the race and support one or
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Speaker 1: the other. Otherwise there ain't going to be anybody on
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Speaker 1: the Democratic ticket running for governor. That will be extraordinary.
7:31
Speaker 1: That's never happened again. All right, Now, let's talk about
7:36
Speaker 1: what's going on with the oil. Oil prices and the
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Speaker 1: cost of gasoline, and gas prices started to skyrocket after
7:44
Speaker 1: the US Israeli conflicts started with a run and now
7:51
Speaker 1: gas is at least fifty percent more across the nation
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Speaker 1: and even more here in California. I mean, we're getting nailed.
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Speaker 1: So it's changing the way a lot of people are living,
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Speaker 1: particularly people that commute. I mean, it just changes life completely.
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Speaker 1: So we have our own story here on KFI in
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Speaker 1: the morning show, and that's Codo Cono who drives an
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Speaker 1: hour each way and bought a car. What a couple
8:20
Speaker 1: months ago, right, kno bought a new car, Okay, And
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Speaker 1: I'm assuming was gas mileage part of your thinking and
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Speaker 1: buying the car.
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Speaker 2: It was the primary part of my thinking.
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Speaker 1: Okay, And you were very close to not being able
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Speaker 1: to come to work because your car had just collapsed
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Speaker 1: on you.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a crazy commute for someone that doesn't
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Speaker 2: have a car payment. So if I had up a
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Speaker 2: car payment, it was gonna be tough.
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Speaker 1: Okay, So let me ask you this has even with
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Speaker 1: a new car. Forget it. I just wanted to do
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Speaker 1: the story of you having you get a new car
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Speaker 1: that gas mileage was important. Has your life changed at
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Speaker 1: all because of gas prices and you drive two hours
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Speaker 1: a day to get here and go home.
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Speaker 2: I mean I like to stay at home. No, I understand,
9:08
Speaker 2: but I don't like to know. That's what I'm saying.
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Speaker 2: Like I prefer not to drive anywhere now right now currently,
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Speaker 2: just because I look at the gas tank.
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Speaker 1: Okay, but that's the difference. And I want to go
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Speaker 1: in a direction that I prefer not to drive also,
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Speaker 1: and I can afford the gas. But Lindsay has this
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Speaker 1: escalade which gets two and a half miles to the gallon.
9:32
Speaker 1: It doesn't work very well. So whenever we go, we
9:35
Speaker 1: go in my car because it's an ev even though
9:38
Speaker 1: she hates it. But I am concerned. I look at
9:42
Speaker 1: gas prices and yeah, my life is changed because we
9:44
Speaker 1: no longer take her car. Now, that's not the same
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Speaker 1: of changing lifestyle. Have you changed lifestyle? Are you spending
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Speaker 1: less for Hamburger? Are you going to restaurants less? I
9:58
Speaker 1: don't know. No, no, Okay, that hasn't helped me at
10:02
Speaker 1: all for this story. I wanted to tell you, and
10:05
Speaker 1: I understand that. You know you could have just lied.
10:07
Speaker 1: I know you could have just straight out lied to
10:09
Speaker 1: make by point. God, I hate when people on this
10:12
Speaker 1: show do that. The point I want to make is
10:15
Speaker 1: more and more Americans are truly affected by gas prices.
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Speaker 1: Not only are they driving less as Kono is because
10:24
Speaker 1: of his insane commute, but also they are changing the
10:29
Speaker 1: way they live. Their food purchases are different. Going to
10:35
Speaker 1: restaurants has disappeared. You have the cost of food which
10:40
Speaker 1: is increasing, and with gas there for example, I have
10:44
Speaker 1: cut down going to restaurants a couple of reasons. Well,
10:48
Speaker 1: one reason because the price of restaurants are so insane
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Speaker 1: that I put the credit card down I go. You
10:54
Speaker 1: know that wasn't worth it. It seems like it was
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Speaker 1: twice as much. So how much did you and on
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Speaker 1: gasoline prior to new car? With just my car? Yeah,
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Speaker 1: that's all that matters. Just your car. That's what I'm
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Speaker 1: talking about cars in the household.
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Speaker 2: So I understand I drive to work, it was like
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Speaker 2: forty No, it was like sixty five.
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Speaker 1: Twice a week. Yeah, sixty five. Okay, so you're one
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Speaker 1: hundred and thirty dollars a week. Yeah, okay, how about
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Speaker 1: your new car, what's the gas miling?
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Speaker 2: Well, before gas went up, so when gas was around
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Speaker 2: like four thirty, it would be like forty two dollars,
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Speaker 2: and now we're back up to that same about sixty
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Speaker 2: five right now where the gas is at.
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Speaker 1: So if gas I had not gone up, your life
11:43
Speaker 1: would have been a lot easier.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say it's like one hundred and fifty
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Speaker 2: dollars a month ish right now extra with the gas
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Speaker 2: prices that I that is.
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Speaker 1: Some money because now we're talking about eighteen hundred dollars
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Speaker 1: a year. I mean, that is some serious money. And
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Speaker 1: that's one of the reasons I bought an EV because
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Speaker 1: I was just tired of paying for gas. It's just
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Speaker 1: a hassle. He go into the gas station and I
12:06
Speaker 1: just it's just a pain. And then touching the you know,
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Speaker 1: the nozzle or touching that hose and knowing that cooties
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Speaker 1: are on that hose, that other people with all kinds
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Speaker 1: of diseases, And I look at the person who's filling
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Speaker 1: the tank before me, and there they are in their hands,
12:24
Speaker 1: open shankers and superating sores and puss dripping from their hands.
12:31
Speaker 1: Enjoy breakfast, everybody, And so I kind of like the
12:35
Speaker 1: idea that I don't touch any of that now other
12:37
Speaker 1: than the handle on my EV at home. So anyway,
12:42
Speaker 1: I just want to bring that out. The point is
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Speaker 1: is that life has changed for many of us, and
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Speaker 1: gas has gone up again, and the President has said
12:54
Speaker 1: it's very short term, really downplaying it, saying it's going
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Speaker 1: to go back to very little. Remember a cost, we're
13:01
Speaker 1: going to be in half. Yeah, not true. But to
13:05
Speaker 1: be fair, that was puff free. You know, no one
13:07
Speaker 1: thought that it was anything other than a campaign slogan. Okay, Now,
13:14
Speaker 1: as oil prices go up, and they have, as gasoline
13:18
Speaker 1: goes up, and it has, and it all is predicated
13:21
Speaker 1: on whether we're going to enter a peace agreement with
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Speaker 1: Iran or no, and it bounces all over the place.
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Speaker 1: The one thing that's happening is we're looking at gasoline
13:30
Speaker 1: prices going up. It does not go down, and so
13:34
Speaker 1: who do you blame for that? And unfortunately the people
13:38
Speaker 1: that are blamed and unfairly blamed are the gas station
13:41
Speaker 1: owners who are independent gas station owners who get blamed.
13:47
Speaker 1: And if you look at the licensing and everyone of
13:50
Speaker 1: them has to produce much like the licensing information on restaurants.
13:56
Speaker 1: If you look at the licensing, if you don't see
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Speaker 1: an Armenian or Indian name, it really isn't a real
14:02
Speaker 1: gas station. Just wanted to point that out. And so
14:06
Speaker 1: the way these gas stations work is that they buy.
14:10
Speaker 1: When you have a Shell station or seventy six station,
14:13
Speaker 1: the gas station owner buys the gasoline from the associated
14:19
Speaker 1: corporation gas companies. Seventy six stations buy it only from
14:23
Speaker 1: seventy six. You have Exon only buys it from Exon.
14:26
Speaker 1: These Exon stations. Now you also have the no name
14:30
Speaker 1: brand gas stations actually their famous name brand. And you
14:35
Speaker 1: look at it and you want to see what famous
14:38
Speaker 1: name is up there, and it's either Abraham Lincoln gas
14:40
Speaker 1: or George Washington gas. See that's a famous name joke.
14:44
Speaker 1: See how that works. In any case, The point is
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Speaker 1: is that the gas stations pay for gasoline from the
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Speaker 1: refinery and they do it instantly. Gas prices go up
14:59
Speaker 1: and they go up immediately, or oil goes up and
15:03
Speaker 1: it goes up immediately even when oil is still on
15:06
Speaker 1: the high seas and hitting the refinery because of the
15:10
Speaker 1: way the business model works. And what's going on with
15:14
Speaker 1: these gas stations is they are losing money. And why Well,
15:19
Speaker 1: because they need volume, that's number one. And they're not
15:22
Speaker 1: getting volume because gasoline is so expensive. Fewer people are buying. Well,
15:28
Speaker 1: it's fewer people and they're buying less gas and driving
15:33
Speaker 1: a lot less because of the price. And also you
15:37
Speaker 1: have what the pandemic has done, and people change their
15:41
Speaker 1: way of living, and you also have people that work
15:45
Speaker 1: at home. I mean, it's changed everything. But the bottom
15:49
Speaker 1: line is that gas prices stay around far longer. High
15:53
Speaker 1: gas prices stay around far longer. Now, the gas experts
15:57
Speaker 1: are saying, even if the price of oil drops substantially,
16:01
Speaker 1: which you will, once a piece of cord is reached
16:04
Speaker 1: between Iran, the United States, Iran and Israel, and the
16:07
Speaker 1: Strait of Horn moves is open and it remains an
16:12
Speaker 1: international waterway, so Iran goes back to where it was
16:16
Speaker 1: prior to the Israeli and the American attack and them
16:20
Speaker 1: closing down the strait of horm moves. Even when oil
16:23
Speaker 1: prices dropped dramatically, the major oil experts out there are
16:28
Speaker 1: saying that you're going to see the price of gasoline
16:32
Speaker 1: stay up there until probably the end of the year,
16:36
Speaker 1: until November. And so what do we do about it? Well,
16:41
Speaker 1: the Feds are thinking of getting rid of the federal
16:44
Speaker 1: excise tax, and you have state taxes in California. I'm
16:49
Speaker 1: pleased to say we have the highest tax of any
16:53
Speaker 1: state in the Union. So we're getting nailed the most California.
16:57
Speaker 1: I'm very proud of California. We are number one. We
17:00
Speaker 1: are number one in taxation, we are number one in
17:05
Speaker 1: cost of living, we are number one in housing prices.
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Speaker 1: We are number one, and so we're going to get here.
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Speaker 1: We are getting hit worse than anybody else. When you
17:15
Speaker 1: see the price national price of gas a dollar fifty
17:19
Speaker 1: or a dollar seventy five less than what we pay.
17:23
Speaker 1: We would be ecstatic if we paid the national average price.
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Speaker 1: So when you see these insane prices at the pump,
17:32
Speaker 1: keep in mind that the owners of these stations are
17:36
Speaker 1: getting nailed as much or even worse, because the profit
17:41
Speaker 1: margin is just razor thin, and they can't lose money
17:45
Speaker 1: selling gasoline. They can't do it. You don't stay in business.
17:49
Speaker 1: So a lot of these owners are considering bailing out
17:52
Speaker 1: of the entire business. So what do these gas owners,
17:56
Speaker 1: the gas station owners have to do. Well, the Indian
17:59
Speaker 1: ones are thinking of becoming cardiologists, and the Armenian ones
18:05
Speaker 1: are thinking of I can't think of any kind of
18:09
Speaker 1: a racial connection here other than Harry Arms, and that
18:13
Speaker 1: doesn't work with gas prices. Okay, emails go to Ann
18:19
Speaker 1: in terms of complaining about the show. Now driving down
18:22
Speaker 1: the street. I went to Birmingham High School in Van Eys,
18:27
Speaker 1: and Birmingham had one of the first lighting systems and
18:31
Speaker 1: high schools in the country. And have you've gone past
18:35
Speaker 1: golf courses that light themselves up at night and stadiums,
18:40
Speaker 1: open air stadiums and it's basically high noon anywhere under
18:47
Speaker 1: those lights or near those lights, they are so bright.
18:50
Speaker 1: And why is that? Well, because this is brand new
18:57
Speaker 1: lighting they put in, replacing the warm glow that the
19:01
Speaker 1: sodium lights had, and they're replaced with these incredibly bright headlights.
19:08
Speaker 1: It virtually looks like that and so la and this
19:12
Speaker 1: is the city of Los Angeles uniquely went to these
19:15
Speaker 1: LED lights, these incredibly bright LED lights which use a
19:20
Speaker 1: lot less energy, which are a whole lot brighter than
19:24
Speaker 1: the older sodium lights. And a lot of people are
19:28
Speaker 1: upset about this, to say the least, if you have
19:31
Speaker 1: one near your home, Man, what a difference that makes.
19:35
Speaker 1: There's a story in the La Times about this woman,
19:39
Speaker 1: Linda Chen, who lives near one of those and the
19:43
Speaker 1: light just goes across her entire home in her backyard,
19:46
Speaker 1: and she says, I know, am I going to sell
19:47
Speaker 1: this place? Because people are going to come at night?
19:50
Speaker 1: And who wants that kind of lighting? And so the city,
19:54
Speaker 1: unfortunately is replacing those lights, those warm lights, with these
20:01
Speaker 1: very bright LED lights. And here's the problem. The city
20:03
Speaker 1: did it first. La City was one of the first
20:06
Speaker 1: pioneers of this, and the LED lights in those days
20:10
Speaker 1: only had one temperature, because temperature has a lot to
20:14
Speaker 1: do with the brightness, and it's measured in kelvin's, which
20:20
Speaker 1: I had no idea about kelvin's. And so the average
20:24
Speaker 1: kelvin that LEDs have is about four thousand kelvins on
20:29
Speaker 1: the streets of LA And there are two issues regarding
20:32
Speaker 1: four thousand Kelvins. First of all, finding four thousand guys
20:36
Speaker 1: named Kelvin in terms of street lighting is not easy.
20:40
Speaker 1: The other problem is that these older lights were put
20:45
Speaker 1: in early on, and now the technology has changed to
20:49
Speaker 1: where you can get a warmer light with LEDs and
20:54
Speaker 1: LED save a lot of money. If you look at
20:57
Speaker 1: the LEDs at home, and I have LEDs all over
21:00
Speaker 1: my house outside certainly, and while LEDs in my house,
21:04
Speaker 1: and the amount of electricity that it takes now to
21:07
Speaker 1: run my home in my backyard is a tiny fraction
21:11
Speaker 1: what it is with incandescent lights, or well they don't
21:13
Speaker 1: have the sodium lights for the most part in residential.
21:18
Speaker 1: But it's we're on our way to LED lights now today.
21:21
Speaker 1: Since my backyard is going to be brand new, it's
21:25
Speaker 1: good I can make it as warm as I want
21:27
Speaker 1: because those LED bulbs are adjustable and the old lights
21:32
Speaker 1: that we had are not. So keep in mind that
21:36
Speaker 1: when you go past the street where those lights are
21:39
Speaker 1: so bright you can barely see, or you go past
21:43
Speaker 1: the stadium where those lights are so incredibly bright, that
21:47
Speaker 1: LA being the pioneer of saving money and technology, we
21:53
Speaker 1: screwed ourselves with that just wanted to share that with you.
21:57
Speaker 1: Just an interesting story that I I enjoy these stories
22:01
Speaker 1: that are sort of off the radar. All right, sprint
22:07
Speaker 1: Spirit Airlines going completely broke, as you know, has filed
22:11
Speaker 1: for bankruptcy and this time around there have been two
22:14
Speaker 1: filings before they were chapter eleven. This time around is
22:17
Speaker 1: going to be liquidation, disappears, airplane sold, everything sold. And
22:24
Speaker 1: there is a man, one man who has a plan
22:27
Speaker 1: to revive the airline. And as crazy as it sounds,
22:32
Speaker 1: there is an analogy. There is the basis of him
22:36
Speaker 1: doing that. There is an organization that actually has followed
22:41
Speaker 1: this path, and he is modeling the purchase of Spirit
22:45
Speaker 1: Airlines based on that. And it's an entire city owning
22:49
Speaker 1: a football team, not a billionaire, a city owning a
22:54
Speaker 1: football team. And I'll tell you that story. If you
22:56
Speaker 1: don't know who it is or what it is, you're
22:59
Speaker 1: gonna obviously get some information. If you don't what it is,
23:03
Speaker 1: you're still going to get some information. I'll share that
23:05
Speaker 1: with you. Coming up, this is KFI AM six point forty.
23:10
Speaker 1: You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show. Catch my
23:12
Speaker 1: show Monday through Friday six am to nine am, and
23:15
Speaker 1: anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app,