June 20, 2024 • 22 mins
LA’s latest homeless housing project, opened in skid row costing $600K a unit… another measure to get money for homelessness ha qualified for ballot. How much more money do they need? Boeing Starliner: Two astronauts wait to come home amid spacecraft issues. How Lego went from humble toy to black market item fueling a crime spree. AT&T’s plan to “phase out” landline service in California likely denied.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demandfrom KFI AM six forty. You want
listening to the Bill Handle Show.And good morning everybody. It is a
Thursday Solstice, Thursday, Thursday,June twentieth, longest day of the year.
(00:22):
And I think this is the officialstart of summer. And okay,
the only time I really mattered whenI was getting out of school. Remember
it would be third week in June. I would get out of school today.
When did they get out of school? I don't know. February is
when the semester ends, and itstarts in January. Who the hell knows?
(00:43):
But I cared, and my kidsare out of school. So I
cared when I was a kid.Now, all right, how unusual?
Now? Amy reported this in thenews and that is LA's latest homeless housing
project has opened up in skid Row. And skid Row, by the way,
(01:03):
it's going to be one of thoseterms that we're never going to be
able to use again because it stigmatizes. It has to be that street which
houses many homeless people. I don'tknow what kind of a name comes up
with it, but I guarantee youcome from skid Row, like hitting the
skids, probably probably you know Icome up with do I use that line
(01:26):
again that I used last hour skidrow? Amy says no, no,
Sorry, you have to listen tothe Last Hour where I came up with
the origin of the term skid row. Anyway, this is the first of
two high rise buildings are going tomake up the Wine Guard Towers, and
(01:46):
the first one is open. Nineteenstory two hundred and seventy eight units overlooking
downtown, La Cafe, club room, Jim Music, art rooms, computer
lab, dog runs, terraces,two hundred and twenty eight studio apartments,
fifty one bedroom apartments. Each apartmentfully furnished, full kitchen, private bathroom,
(02:12):
heating and air conditioning, described ashigh quality apartment living. And Kevin
Murray, the president's CEO of theWineguart Center Association, says, this is
not just a building. It's aboutpeople, about giving people dignity and respect.
By the way, I agree withthat. There is no question this
is about taking the homeless and doingsomething with them. And by the way,
(02:37):
this is where you could call mea socialist on this one. We
have so many homeless in society thatI think we have to do something about
it. Other countries do I havea real problem with the fact that healthcare
and food is not a fundamental right. Okay, housing, I don't know,
but you know, through tax dollars, through tax dollars, we are
(03:01):
funding this. It comes to fivehundred and sixty five thousand dollars or five
hundred and ninety five thousand dollars perunit, six hundred grand for every unit.
Now am I in favor of this? I am still a little bit
of math. How many people inLa County are considered homeless? Sixty thousand,
(03:24):
okay, how many of them areLet's say forty thousand units are necessary
because summers couple some families, Solet's call it forty thousand. What is
forty thousand times a six hundred thousandFigure that number out. Yeah, yeah,
(03:45):
it's pretty impressive. And I havesaid, and here is the flaw
is to deal successfully with homelessness,to make a real dent is going to
take every dime of the budget ofthis county and probably the state to make
this happen. And where do youput this on the burner? Front burner,
(04:08):
okay, back burner, the burnerbehind that. And I don't know
what I do know if it's goingto be incremental couple one hundred, few
hundred units at a time, soforty six years from now will actually make
a real good den unless you takeall the money. And how are they
going to get some of the money. Well, guess what. We've got
a ballot measure coming up in November, and we now have a one quarter
(04:32):
cent sales tax in La County tofund affordable housing and homeless services. This
ballot measure is going to replace thatwhich expires in twenty twenty seven from a
quarter cent to half a cent.Now that means almost nothing, right,
except as these taxes go up aquarter of a cent half a cent.
(04:57):
Guess where we are, boys andgirls. We're at what one and a
half percent? One of the mostexpensive tax, sales tax in the United
States, and it's going to goup, much like next month are our
tax on gasoline is going to goup. I'll be announcing that July first,
and no small amount either. Oh, by the way, California taxes
(05:21):
on gasoline the most expensive tax inthe United States. It used to be
fifty percent premium. Because of thesummer blend and all of that. It
is. We used to have afifty percent premium when it was two bucks.
Let's say around the country it wastwo fifty here. Now it is
a dollar fifty to two dollars premiumbecause of the taxes that are being nailed,
(05:47):
and it's going to go up bythe way July first, So sales
tax, which by the way,is going to pass because Proposition H passed
with a quarter of a cent todeal with the homeless, now is going
to be half a cent, whichis going to be permanent because H expires
in twenty twenty seven. And dothey have enough signatures? Buy twice?
(06:10):
The coalition of Housing Authority and themental health sector, those who advocated this,
submitted four hundred and ten thousand signaturesto the County Register's office to qualify.
Organizers need about two hundred and fortythousand signatures. They've got it.
Are we going to vote it in? Oh? Yes we are. And
(06:30):
that's not to say that we can'tdeal with the homeless. I mean we
have to to some extent. Butare we willing to pay these kinds of
taxes? Yeah? When they goup a quarter of a cent here,
half a cent here, it's deathof a thousand cuts. And that's particularly
important in Chinatown, where I'm notgoing to do that because that's a reference.
(06:56):
Okay, So anyway, the pointis, I agree the homeless should
be sheltered. Do I agree thatevery dime we have goes to the homeless
and that's the only way to makea real dent. Fair enough, Now,
we heard the news about Boeing andthe problems it's had with the Max
(07:17):
and the Dreamliner and its aircraft.So let's move over to its space division,
where there is a Boeing star Linerspacecraft flying to and reaching the space
station with two veteran NASA astronauts roundtrip to the International Space Station and back
(07:41):
it goes. So now the twoveteran astronauts have been invited to stay longer
at the space station because the inhabitantslike them. And oh yeah, by
the way, there is a realproblem with the spacecraft. They have to
straighten out before the astronauts get backand come on home. And so there's
(08:01):
staying aboard the space station for asecond time while engineers on the ground scrambling
to learn what happened on the journeyup because there was there were some problems
troubles the spacecraft experience on its wayto the iss, including helium leaks and
thrusters that abruptly stop working, andall kinds of questions had been raised about
(08:26):
how the back half of the missionis going to work out. The first
half of the mission went fine exceptfor the helium leaks and the thrusters that
don't work. And it's a littleissue. Now Is that big a deal?
Not really, because, as youcan imagine, every news outlet reporting
this went to their go to experts, former astronauts, engineers, etc.
(08:50):
And they said, this is asmall deal. It's not considered life threatening
in any way because that part ofthe spacecraft in which the thrusters didn't work
so well, and the helium leaksweren't even expected to and designed to come
(09:11):
back to Earth. They were goingto go into the atmosphere and burn up.
It just wasn't part of the plan. So problems with that did not
create any danger to the astronauts.But it does prove that there's some real
problems with this and now the astronautsare going to return no earlier than June
(09:33):
twenty six. And I love this. This is pr from Boeing. It's
describing the mission as a success anda learning opportunity. Now, Elon Musk
who started with his spacecraft, hehad a learning opportunity three times as it
(09:54):
blew up three times. And itreally was a learning op opportunity for real.
I mean there's no question about it. I think it blew up twice
and on his third go round itsucceeded. Let me tell you, let's
go back a few years, andthat is what year with that. It
(10:15):
started twenty fourteen and NASA tapped bothBoeing and SpaceX to develop spacecraft capable of
carrying astronauts to the ISS, theInternational Station space Station. Boeing was the
leader. By the way, everybodyexpected Boeing to be first up because SpaceX
was creating this technology of returnable spacecraftWELLX crew Dragon spacecraft. The Dragon safely
(10:43):
completed the first mission in twenty twenty. We're four years out and Boeing just
launched its first spacecraft to the ISS. SpaceX has been doing this for years,
and so the perception that Boeing wasway ahead of the game as opposed
(11:05):
to this upstart SpaceX. Of course, that's reversed completely and the star Liner,
the Boeing craft, has been facedwith setbacks and mar Well marred was
setbacks and problems every step of theway, years of delays, added expense.
(11:28):
I mean, it just is notgone well. The first test mission
in twenty nineteen with a star Linerjust made no sense. It had so
many problems. So now twenty twentyis the second uncrewed flight test additional problems.
(11:50):
This is Boeing. Now it isbeing pointed out by the people at
Boeing that the spacecraft, the spaceprogram of Boeing is totally separate from the
aircraft manufacturing division. It's really twodifferent companies. So you can't really conflate
the two except the ownership happens tobe Boeing. And you know, so
(12:16):
let me ask you this. Let'ssay you're going to pay for a ride
to the ISS. Are you goingto look at the max Starliner? Probably
not. SpaceX now has eighty percentof the world market both for government including
NASA and other governments and private customers. Private customers meaning throwing up satellites for
(12:41):
communications for various scientific programs, youknow, looking at the Earth and weather
forecasting, et cetera. And SpaceXand Elon Musk visionary that he is crazy,
but visionary that he is also hasa Star Link satellite system which gives
the entire world access to the Internet. He went in a different direction.
(13:05):
Boy, that he do well withthat. Now, we did a story
last week about Legos. A thiefbroke in and I think it were six
Lego stores in southern California that werebroken into and a bunch of Legos were
stolen. You go, come on, Legos, Well, let me tell
(13:28):
you what legos are about. Firstof all, he stuffed the garbage bag
with about ten thousand dollars worth offigures at one store to a waiting car
and speeding off. Now, comeon, Legos. You know there are
billions and billions of Lego pieces outthere. But let me explain what happened
with legos. Okay, the COVIDnineteen pandemic, turbocharge, Lego collecting hobby
(13:56):
and home bound collectors blitzing online resellersin search of coveted items, driving up
prices, attracting criminals. So howdid legos be come from these little blocks
into collectibles. Well, it's notthe building of them. It's not the
Eiffel Tower built out of legos,or the White House built out of legos
(14:18):
and the giant dinosaurs. What itis are these limit little figures, these
tiny little figures, characters. They'reabout one point five inch, they're figurines,
and they're known as minifigs. AndNeil, you've talked about minifigs in
cooking, where you take these verysmall figs and they're wonderful. They're minifigs
(14:43):
and those can trade for now upwardof one thousand dollars each. And there's
a story there because one owner ofthe store, and let me tell you
about the stores bricks and minifigs,for example, franchise chain or the one
hundred location around the country. Theydon't sell individual little pieces. What they
(15:07):
sell are sets, expensive sets andfigurines that are no longer in production.
And those are the ones that haveexploded. And man, what a story
that is, because these little tinyfigurines which you can put in your pocket
are getting more valuable by the minute. One of the owners of the stores,
(15:33):
woman named Katie Leuscher or Lesher,who owns a store and Wittier,
says, you can't steal in nineteensixties mustang and hide that, but you
sure as hell can hide a minifigure and stockpile them for years. And
they're going up in value. Andhere's a case in point. I saw
a documentary finished it yesterday about collectiblessports collectibles, and it's about Golden,
(16:00):
which is a company that this guy, Ken Golden created and he sells memorabilia.
Started with sports memorabilia and now he'sinto everything and does massive tens of
millions, hundreds of millions of dollarsof business. And so one of the
collectibles that he talks about and youactually see it and is owned by the
(16:21):
owner of the Diamondbacks, the ArizonaDiavabacks is the best Honus Wagner baseball card
in existence. There are only twohundred and six that were even printed.
This is back in the late eighteeneighteen nineties when he was still you know,
professional baseball was still there. Nowthese cards were printed by tobacco companies.
(16:45):
On the back with the tobacco companylogo card and on the front was
the baseball player. Well, thisguy was a teetotaler and a non smoker,
and he went out of his mindand he told the company, pull
the advertise, pull the cards.Well, two hundred and six were released,
maybe there's a dozen left out there. And then they're graded by the
(17:08):
condition, and this one is themost expensive or the best conditioned Honus Wagner
card in existence. I'm referring tothe value of things going up and collectibles.
It's known as the Gretzki card becauseWayne Gretzky, the great hockey player
in nineteen ninety two, paid fourhundred and fifty one thousand dollars for the
(17:30):
card, which was considered astronomical money. Why would you do that, Well,
the owner of the Diamondbacks, Idon't know how many years ago,
paid two point eight million dollars forthe same card, and today it is
valued by Ken Golden at fifty milliondollars for a baseball card. The val
(17:56):
look at the amount of money youpay for a Kobe Bryant jersey or Mike
Jordan pair of sneakers in the millionsof dollars a pair of you sneakers.
Amy did this story last week aboutthieves breaking into Lego stores and stealing these
little figurines like one hundred thousand dollarsworth. You to go, come on,
(18:18):
well, it's a collectible, andit's a collectible that's going up in
value by the day, because that'swhat these collectibles are doing. Boy what
an investment. Now, these arenot Lego blocks. These are little figurines
that are being manufactured, and thatis the secret here. They're known as
minifigs, small figurines, and theyare well, I mean, it's incredible.
(18:45):
Here's the difference though, and whythese are worth more and more.
This is kind of a manufactured raritycompanies send out or what they do is
manufacturing small number and they tell themfor a pretty good price, and they're
rare. Versus what I said,the Honus Wagner card was not a manufactured
(19:07):
rarity for the purpose of making ita rarity. The Michael Jordan tennis shoes
use his sneakers used in a championshipgame, which goes for over two million
dollars or did that was not quotea manufactured product. However, the line
of Michael Jordan is manufactured and Nikekeeps it very limited numbers of this model.
(19:33):
Immediately they're worth a pile of money. Legos was about to go broke
in the nineties and then somewhere withthe company figured out it's not those blocks,
it's these little figures connected to StarWars, Jurassic Park, connected to
(19:56):
movies and story. Harry Potter isone and the rare ones are worth the
fortune, and sometimes they manufacture onlya few of them. As I talked
about that documentary on Netflix that's onthat's well worth it about collectibles and the
value. There's one guy for Idon't know how many millions of dollars one
little figurine. One little figurine,a Star Wars figurine. There are only
(20:22):
three in existence because this was aprototype of a figure that was never made.
There's only three that exists. Andit's worth north, wasn't it.
I think it was worth more thana million bucks. I mean it is
crazy. As I said earlier,and Neil nodded on this one. A
(20:42):
Pokemon card worth a million dollars.Jerseys that are worth the people have bought
for tens of thousands, Jackie Robinsonjersey Babe Ruth jerseys that are game used
where they can prove it was usedin a championship game. Just crazy prices.
(21:03):
And that's what brought Lego into acompany that now does over nine billion
dollars a year, grew by fiftypercent over the last five years. And
I'll tell you, and I'm goingto repeat what I said, because this
is a story that's almost incomprehensible.The famous Gretzky Honus Wagner card baseball card.
(21:26):
Only two hundred were ever actually printed, very rare. Maybe it doesn't
exist. There's one in the bestquality you could imagine. He paid for
it in the nineties four hundred andfifty one thousand dollars in people, you're
out of your mind. The guywho owns it now, who owns the
Arizona Diamondbacks, paid two point eightmillion dollars for it, maybe ten twelve
(21:47):
years ago. It has now beenassessed by Ken Golden, the guy who
owns the company that sells this stuff, at over fifty million dollars for one
baseball card. It is the holyGrail of collectibles. Nothing like it in
the world. Just insanity. BabeRuth Baseball's crazy Babe Ruth jerseys Jackie Robinson
(22:12):
jersey that was used during his firstyear in baseball, where he still has
bloodstains on it for when he cuthimself shaving. The guy turned down seven
and a half million dollars, turnedit down. Who owns it? All
right? We're done with that.This is KFI AM six forty live everywhere
(22:37):
on the iHeartRadio app. You've beenlistening to the Bill Handle Show. Catch
my Show Monday through Friday, sixam to nine am, and anytime on
demand on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to Bill Handle on demandfrom KFI AM six forty. You want
listening to the Bill Handle Show.And good morning everybody. It is a
Thursday Solstice, Thursday, Thursday,June twentieth, longest day of the year.
(00:22):
And I think this is the officialstart of summer. And okay,
the only time I really mattered whenI was getting out of school. Remember
it would be third week in June. I would get out of school today.
When did they get out of school? I don't know. February is
when the semester ends, and itstarts in January. Who the hell knows?
(00:43):
But I cared, and my kidsare out of school. So I
cared when I was a kid.Now, all right, how unusual?
Now? Amy reported this in thenews and that is LA's latest homeless housing
project has opened up in skid Row. And skid Row, by the way,
(01:03):
it's going to be one of thoseterms that we're never going to be
able to use again because it stigmatizes. It has to be that street which
houses many homeless people. I don'tknow what kind of a name comes up
with it, but I guarantee youcome from skid Row, like hitting the
skids, probably probably you know Icome up with do I use that line
(01:26):
again that I used last hour skidrow? Amy says no, no,
Sorry, you have to listen tothe Last Hour where I came up with
the origin of the term skid row. Anyway, this is the first of
two high rise buildings are going tomake up the Wine Guard Towers, and
(01:46):
the first one is open. Nineteenstory two hundred and seventy eight units overlooking
downtown, La Cafe, club room, Jim Music, art rooms, computer
lab, dog runs, terraces,two hundred and twenty eight studio apartments,
fifty one bedroom apartments. Each apartmentfully furnished, full kitchen, private bathroom,
(02:12):
heating and air conditioning, described ashigh quality apartment living. And Kevin
Murray, the president's CEO of theWineguart Center Association, says, this is
not just a building. It's aboutpeople, about giving people dignity and respect.
By the way, I agree withthat. There is no question this
is about taking the homeless and doingsomething with them. And by the way,
(02:37):
this is where you could call mea socialist on this one. We
have so many homeless in society thatI think we have to do something about
it. Other countries do I havea real problem with the fact that healthcare
and food is not a fundamental right. Okay, housing, I don't know,
but you know, through tax dollars, through tax dollars, we are
(03:01):
funding this. It comes to fivehundred and sixty five thousand dollars or five
hundred and ninety five thousand dollars perunit, six hundred grand for every unit.
Now am I in favor of this? I am still a little bit
of math. How many people inLa County are considered homeless? Sixty thousand,
(03:24):
okay, how many of them areLet's say forty thousand units are necessary
because summers couple some families, Solet's call it forty thousand. What is
forty thousand times a six hundred thousandFigure that number out. Yeah, yeah,
(03:45):
it's pretty impressive. And I havesaid, and here is the flaw
is to deal successfully with homelessness,to make a real dent is going to
take every dime of the budget ofthis county and probably the state to make
this happen. And where do youput this on the burner? Front burner,
(04:08):
okay, back burner, the burnerbehind that. And I don't know
what I do know if it's goingto be incremental couple one hundred, few
hundred units at a time, soforty six years from now will actually make
a real good den unless you takeall the money. And how are they
going to get some of the money. Well, guess what. We've got
a ballot measure coming up in November, and we now have a one quarter
(04:32):
cent sales tax in La County tofund affordable housing and homeless services. This
ballot measure is going to replace thatwhich expires in twenty twenty seven from a
quarter cent to half a cent.Now that means almost nothing, right,
except as these taxes go up aquarter of a cent half a cent.
(04:57):
Guess where we are, boys andgirls. We're at what one and a
half percent? One of the mostexpensive tax, sales tax in the United
States, and it's going to goup, much like next month are our
tax on gasoline is going to goup. I'll be announcing that July first,
and no small amount either. Oh, by the way, California taxes
(05:21):
on gasoline the most expensive tax inthe United States. It used to be
fifty percent premium. Because of thesummer blend and all of that. It
is. We used to have afifty percent premium when it was two bucks.
Let's say around the country it wastwo fifty here. Now it is
a dollar fifty to two dollars premiumbecause of the taxes that are being nailed,
(05:47):
and it's going to go up bythe way July first, So sales
tax, which by the way,is going to pass because Proposition H passed
with a quarter of a cent todeal with the homeless, now is going
to be half a cent, whichis going to be permanent because H expires
in twenty twenty seven. And dothey have enough signatures? Buy twice?
(06:10):
The coalition of Housing Authority and themental health sector, those who advocated this,
submitted four hundred and ten thousand signaturesto the County Register's office to qualify.
Organizers need about two hundred and fortythousand signatures. They've got it.
Are we going to vote it in? Oh? Yes we are. And
(06:30):
that's not to say that we can'tdeal with the homeless. I mean we
have to to some extent. Butare we willing to pay these kinds of
taxes? Yeah? When they goup a quarter of a cent here,
half a cent here, it's deathof a thousand cuts. And that's particularly
important in Chinatown, where I'm notgoing to do that because that's a reference.
(06:56):
Okay, So anyway, the pointis, I agree the homeless should
be sheltered. Do I agree thatevery dime we have goes to the homeless
and that's the only way to makea real dent. Fair enough, Now,
we heard the news about Boeing andthe problems it's had with the Max
(07:17):
and the Dreamliner and its aircraft.So let's move over to its space division,
where there is a Boeing star Linerspacecraft flying to and reaching the space
station with two veteran NASA astronauts roundtrip to the International Space Station and back
(07:41):
it goes. So now the twoveteran astronauts have been invited to stay longer
at the space station because the inhabitantslike them. And oh yeah, by
the way, there is a realproblem with the spacecraft. They have to
straighten out before the astronauts get backand come on home. And so there's
(08:01):
staying aboard the space station for asecond time while engineers on the ground scrambling
to learn what happened on the journeyup because there was there were some problems
troubles the spacecraft experience on its wayto the iss, including helium leaks and
thrusters that abruptly stop working, andall kinds of questions had been raised about
(08:26):
how the back half of the missionis going to work out. The first
half of the mission went fine exceptfor the helium leaks and the thrusters that
don't work. And it's a littleissue. Now Is that big a deal?
Not really, because, as youcan imagine, every news outlet reporting
this went to their go to experts, former astronauts, engineers, etc.
(08:50):
And they said, this is asmall deal. It's not considered life threatening
in any way because that part ofthe spacecraft in which the thrusters didn't work
so well, and the helium leaksweren't even expected to and designed to come
(09:11):
back to Earth. They were goingto go into the atmosphere and burn up.
It just wasn't part of the plan. So problems with that did not
create any danger to the astronauts.But it does prove that there's some real
problems with this and now the astronautsare going to return no earlier than June
(09:33):
twenty six. And I love this. This is pr from Boeing. It's
describing the mission as a success anda learning opportunity. Now, Elon Musk
who started with his spacecraft, hehad a learning opportunity three times as it
(09:54):
blew up three times. And itreally was a learning op opportunity for real.
I mean there's no question about it. I think it blew up twice
and on his third go round itsucceeded. Let me tell you, let's
go back a few years, andthat is what year with that. It
(10:15):
started twenty fourteen and NASA tapped bothBoeing and SpaceX to develop spacecraft capable of
carrying astronauts to the ISS, theInternational Station space Station. Boeing was the
leader. By the way, everybodyexpected Boeing to be first up because SpaceX
was creating this technology of returnable spacecraftWELLX crew Dragon spacecraft. The Dragon safely
(10:43):
completed the first mission in twenty twenty. We're four years out and Boeing just
launched its first spacecraft to the ISS. SpaceX has been doing this for years,
and so the perception that Boeing wasway ahead of the game as opposed
(11:05):
to this upstart SpaceX. Of course, that's reversed completely and the star Liner,
the Boeing craft, has been facedwith setbacks and mar Well marred was
setbacks and problems every step of theway, years of delays, added expense.
(11:28):
I mean, it just is notgone well. The first test mission
in twenty nineteen with a star Linerjust made no sense. It had so
many problems. So now twenty twentyis the second uncrewed flight test additional problems.
(11:50):
This is Boeing. Now it isbeing pointed out by the people at
Boeing that the spacecraft, the spaceprogram of Boeing is totally separate from the
aircraft manufacturing division. It's really twodifferent companies. So you can't really conflate
the two except the ownership happens tobe Boeing. And you know, so
(12:16):
let me ask you this. Let'ssay you're going to pay for a ride
to the ISS. Are you goingto look at the max Starliner? Probably
not. SpaceX now has eighty percentof the world market both for government including
NASA and other governments and private customers. Private customers meaning throwing up satellites for
(12:41):
communications for various scientific programs, youknow, looking at the Earth and weather
forecasting, et cetera. And SpaceXand Elon Musk visionary that he is crazy,
but visionary that he is also hasa Star Link satellite system which gives
the entire world access to the Internet. He went in a different direction.
(13:05):
Boy, that he do well withthat. Now, we did a story
last week about Legos. A thiefbroke in and I think it were six
Lego stores in southern California that werebroken into and a bunch of Legos were
stolen. You go, come on, Legos, Well, let me tell
(13:28):
you what legos are about. Firstof all, he stuffed the garbage bag
with about ten thousand dollars worth offigures at one store to a waiting car
and speeding off. Now, comeon, Legos. You know there are
billions and billions of Lego pieces outthere. But let me explain what happened
with legos. Okay, the COVIDnineteen pandemic, turbocharge, Lego collecting hobby
(13:56):
and home bound collectors blitzing online resellersin search of coveted items, driving up
prices, attracting criminals. So howdid legos be come from these little blocks
into collectibles. Well, it's notthe building of them. It's not the
Eiffel Tower built out of legos,or the White House built out of legos
(14:18):
and the giant dinosaurs. What itis are these limit little figures, these
tiny little figures, characters. They'reabout one point five inch, they're figurines,
and they're known as minifigs. AndNeil, you've talked about minifigs in
cooking, where you take these verysmall figs and they're wonderful. They're minifigs
(14:43):
and those can trade for now upwardof one thousand dollars each. And there's
a story there because one owner ofthe store, and let me tell you
about the stores bricks and minifigs,for example, franchise chain or the one
hundred location around the country. Theydon't sell individual little pieces. What they
(15:07):
sell are sets, expensive sets andfigurines that are no longer in production.
And those are the ones that haveexploded. And man, what a story
that is, because these little tinyfigurines which you can put in your pocket
are getting more valuable by the minute. One of the owners of the stores,
(15:33):
woman named Katie Leuscher or Lesher,who owns a store and Wittier,
says, you can't steal in nineteensixties mustang and hide that, but you
sure as hell can hide a minifigure and stockpile them for years. And
they're going up in value. Andhere's a case in point. I saw
a documentary finished it yesterday about collectiblessports collectibles, and it's about Golden,
(16:00):
which is a company that this guy, Ken Golden created and he sells memorabilia.
Started with sports memorabilia and now he'sinto everything and does massive tens of
millions, hundreds of millions of dollarsof business. And so one of the
collectibles that he talks about and youactually see it and is owned by the
(16:21):
owner of the Diamondbacks, the ArizonaDiavabacks is the best Honus Wagner baseball card
in existence. There are only twohundred and six that were even printed.
This is back in the late eighteeneighteen nineties when he was still you know,
professional baseball was still there. Nowthese cards were printed by tobacco companies.
(16:45):
On the back with the tobacco companylogo card and on the front was
the baseball player. Well, thisguy was a teetotaler and a non smoker,
and he went out of his mindand he told the company, pull
the advertise, pull the cards.Well, two hundred and six were released,
maybe there's a dozen left out there. And then they're graded by the
(17:08):
condition, and this one is themost expensive or the best conditioned Honus Wagner
card in existence. I'm referring tothe value of things going up and collectibles.
It's known as the Gretzki card becauseWayne Gretzky, the great hockey player
in nineteen ninety two, paid fourhundred and fifty one thousand dollars for the
(17:30):
card, which was considered astronomical money. Why would you do that, Well,
the owner of the Diamondbacks, Idon't know how many years ago,
paid two point eight million dollars forthe same card, and today it is
valued by Ken Golden at fifty milliondollars for a baseball card. The val
(17:56):
look at the amount of money youpay for a Kobe Bryant jersey or Mike
Jordan pair of sneakers in the millionsof dollars a pair of you sneakers.
Amy did this story last week aboutthieves breaking into Lego stores and stealing these
little figurines like one hundred thousand dollarsworth. You to go, come on,
(18:18):
well, it's a collectible, andit's a collectible that's going up in
value by the day, because that'swhat these collectibles are doing. Boy what
an investment. Now, these arenot Lego blocks. These are little figurines
that are being manufactured, and thatis the secret here. They're known as
minifigs, small figurines, and theyare well, I mean, it's incredible.
(18:45):
Here's the difference though, and whythese are worth more and more.
This is kind of a manufactured raritycompanies send out or what they do is
manufacturing small number and they tell themfor a pretty good price, and they're
rare. Versus what I said,the Honus Wagner card was not a manufactured
(19:07):
rarity for the purpose of making ita rarity. The Michael Jordan tennis shoes
use his sneakers used in a championshipgame, which goes for over two million
dollars or did that was not quotea manufactured product. However, the line
of Michael Jordan is manufactured and Nikekeeps it very limited numbers of this model.
(19:33):
Immediately they're worth a pile of money. Legos was about to go broke
in the nineties and then somewhere withthe company figured out it's not those blocks,
it's these little figures connected to StarWars, Jurassic Park, connected to
(19:56):
movies and story. Harry Potter isone and the rare ones are worth the
fortune, and sometimes they manufacture onlya few of them. As I talked
about that documentary on Netflix that's onthat's well worth it about collectibles and the
value. There's one guy for Idon't know how many millions of dollars one
little figurine. One little figurine,a Star Wars figurine. There are only
(20:22):
three in existence because this was aprototype of a figure that was never made.
There's only three that exists. Andit's worth north, wasn't it.
I think it was worth more thana million bucks. I mean it is
crazy. As I said earlier,and Neil nodded on this one. A
(20:42):
Pokemon card worth a million dollars.Jerseys that are worth the people have bought
for tens of thousands, Jackie Robinsonjersey Babe Ruth jerseys that are game used
where they can prove it was usedin a championship game. Just crazy prices.
(21:03):
And that's what brought Lego into acompany that now does over nine billion
dollars a year, grew by fiftypercent over the last five years. And
I'll tell you, and I'm goingto repeat what I said, because this
is a story that's almost incomprehensible.The famous Gretzky Honus Wagner card baseball card.
(21:26):
Only two hundred were ever actually printed, very rare. Maybe it doesn't
exist. There's one in the bestquality you could imagine. He paid for
it in the nineties four hundred andfifty one thousand dollars in people, you're
out of your mind. The guywho owns it now, who owns the
Arizona Diamondbacks, paid two point eightmillion dollars for it, maybe ten twelve
(21:47):
years ago. It has now beenassessed by Ken Golden, the guy who
owns the company that sells this stuff, at over fifty million dollars for one
baseball card. It is the holyGrail of collectibles. Nothing like it in
the world. Just insanity. BabeRuth Baseball's crazy Babe Ruth jerseys Jackie Robinson
(22:12):
jersey that was used during his firstyear in baseball, where he still has
bloodstains on it for when he cuthimself shaving. The guy turned down seven
and a half million dollars, turnedit down. Who owns it? All
right? We're done with that.This is KFI AM six forty live everywhere
(22:37):
on the iHeartRadio app. You've beenlistening to the Bill Handle Show. Catch
my Show Monday through Friday, sixam to nine am, and anytime on
demand on the iHeartRadio app.
The Bill Handel Show News
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.