December 9, 2025 • 26 mins
(December 09,2025)
Artificial intelligence and its growing demand for data centers are putting new users on California’s electric grid. 401k’s are minting a generation of ‘moderate millionaires.’ American consumers are losing patience with high car prices. Children seeking candy are finding their parents’ weed infused edibles.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
AM six forty handle. Here it is a Tacol Tuesday
Summer night. Some of the stories we're looking at yesterday
Mulholland Snake, Well, the Mulholland Snake, that area of Maulholland
Boulevard that just opened up after a couple of years
and it was hideously dangerous. And so it's good news
because it already saw its first crash, what twenty two
(00:31):
seconds after it opened up, which is absolutely great news. Also,
a new star is going on Hollywood Walk of Fame
and I didn't know you could even do this, And
it's going to be dedicated to the brave heroes legitimately
who battled the Palisades and Sunset fires earlier this year.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Not that they don't deserve it, they do.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I just didn't know that the Walk of Fame I
had organizations as part of it, you know, much like
the I think the Nobel Peace Price can go to organizations,
which it has in the past.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
So this is well, they certainly deserve it. Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Now a little bit about the data center, the data
center boom, and we know that AI sucks up a
tremendous amount of power. And where do you get the
power again from utilities of course. And here is what's
going on, and this is the part that's kind of interesting.
This came out of a cal Matters event in downtown
(01:31):
San Jose. And the bottom line is AI and growing
demand for these centers putting a lot new pressure on
it California's electric grid. Which makes sense because when we're
talking about a whole lot of pressure, you got to
build more.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
We have to produce more energy.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
It's not only a question of the power plants, but
also the infrastructure, the power lines, the transformers to transfer
all this power around. Well, San Jose, with this took place,
is ground zero for how California is going to deal
with the rise of data centers that are going to
be used to power artificial intelligence. And here is the
(02:10):
fly in the ointment, and that is the utility has
to effectively guess how much power is going to be
needed by these data centers.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
You can't do it retrospectively.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
You have to do it proactively because let's say data
center is built and all of a sudden, it needs
a hell of a lot more power than is currently available.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
In that region.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Well, how long you think it takes to build up
more power. You just don't overnight build new power plants
or install transmission lines or basically enhance the grid. So
what happens is they have to guess and this is
what the utilities are going up to the state because
the state controls this and saying we think this is
(02:58):
going to happen. We don't know if it's true or not,
but we want the capability of this happening. And first
of all, the state has to give the ability for
them to even begin. They have to ask permission to
build these power sites, the plants, the power lines, transmission lines, etc.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
And then the argument is.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
How much capability should or should they not have, and
what should they build in anticipation and who pays for it?
And that's the fight that's going on because forecasting is
particularly tough. And why well, I'll tell you there was
one of the experts, ling Men, who directs Stanford's Bits
(03:40):
and Watts initiative, says that forecasting is really tough. Why well,
let's look at chat, GPT the app and other apps
of that same milk that use large language models. Which
ones are going to take off which ones are not,
how popular are they going to be, How much electricity
(04:04):
is going to be needed, How much power is going
to be needed to build and to build, create and
maintain these power these data centers. No one has any idea,
and the utilities have to guess. So local officials have
begun to grapple with all of this. Also, keep in
(04:26):
mind that by twenty forty five we have to be
what is the word I'm looking for, By twenty twenty five,
we have to be carbon free, that's the phrase, carbon
free electricity by twenty forty five.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
So you have we can't even do it now.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Why is that even if we go one hundred percent
carbon free, they're still backup generators.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
And what do you do during heat spells?
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Right now, we only use a portion of what the
capability is like normally you wake up this morning, we're
about forty five percent of the capability of what the
the grid could produce. Well, okay, nothing, We have plenty
of power, not when it's hot, not when it's insanely hot,
we don't, and so add to the demand when it's
(05:11):
insanely hot, and a data center which they have to
keep be kept very cold and they're massive. Put all
that together, and you're gonna need a lot more electricity. Okay,
how much?
Speaker 1 (05:23):
We don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Well, how big is the power grade? What do you
think is gonna have to be? We don't know, but
we want the ability to create it. We want the
permission from the state. Well we don't really know why.
We don't know how big, but you sort of everybody
has to guess.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
That's the problem.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
It's going to be a big, big, big deal, all right,
already being reported. Have you ever heard of the phrase
moderate millionaires? What is a moderate millionaire? Is it a
millionaire who is moderate?
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Actually? Maybe?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
So let's talk about millionaires per se. That's a million
dollars in assets, all right, probably not including the house.
The number of four to one k millionaires at Fidelity
reached six hundred and fifty four thousand. That's the highest
level three point two accounts balances over a million dollars.
That may seem like a small amount. That's double though
(06:21):
than it was in twenty twenty two. And the average
deferral rate, and that's the money you put into it
that you don't pay taxes on at Vanguard increase almost
eight percent. So this millionaire club is growing. Yet it
is a moderate millionaires club. And I'll explain in a
(06:42):
moment what moderate millionaires are all about. For one thing,
they're moderate, and second of all, they are millionaires, which
is why they call it moderate millionaires.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
I'll explain it. Very complicated stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
So we're talking about steady saving, third consecutive year, big
games for the US stocks, swollen account balances. People that
have four oh one k's and have invested the over
the last two three years, there's been a lot of gain.
So people who keep on investing or have invested are
doing really well, and a whole lot of them across
(07:18):
a million dollar milestone that's in your four oh one
k a million bucks. For the first time, half of
private sector workers are saving in four oh one case.
First time that over half are actually putting in four
oh one case. By the way, you guys are nuts
not to put in for four one case, especially if
(07:38):
you're in a company that matches, which ours used to.
Now I don't think iHeart matches does any more matching.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
It still does.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
It matches the amount of amount of money that you
put in. By pulling it out, is that the matching
that they do here's what companies Again it is okay,
well imagine this, so three percent matching. So let's say
you make one hundred thousand dollars. I don't know who
does that, but let's say that's three thousand dollars that
(08:09):
you're allowed to put in tax deferred into a four
oh one K that is matched, which means for that
three thousand dollars, you're making one hundred percent interest rate.
And that's assuming that the market doesn't even go up,
so at least that you are crazy, cause whatever the
investment can you double every year. And that's what happens
(08:31):
with four oh one K plans and matching money. And
so the other thing about four oh one ks is
you put money in and it's deductible. So let's go
back to the one hundred thousand dollars income. I think
you're allowed to put up to fifteen percent in your
four oh one K. I think that's the law. Well,
if you put in fifteen percent, that's fifteen thousand dollars.
(08:54):
That means your taxable income goes down. Fifteen thousand dollars
is tax deferred. So it's a great idea, it's a
great plan. And so.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Here we go, what is.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
A moderate millionaire, especially here in southern California. Well, a
moderate millionaire has a million dollars. As a matter of fact,
this model that they're talking about is between one and
five million dollars in your four to oh one K plan.
(09:28):
So for those of you that have hit hit a
million dollars in four oh one K, that is not
a bad income because if at five percent, you're getting
fifty thousand dollars with a million dollars put away, fifty
thousand dollars in retirement is not a bad but it's
not a bad chunk of money.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
But are you still middle class? And here's what a
survey said.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
People that have a million dollars shop like their middle
class people that have up to five millionar that's one
to five moderate millionaires. They think of themselves as middle
class and they shop as if they are middle class.
(10:13):
And this is one of those things where if you
are smart enough over a lifetime to live under your means,
which most people should do. I know Neil lives way
under his means, and I live way under my means,
which means that our retirement is going to be pretty good,
pretty good, And that's really the secret what a lot
(10:35):
of people don't understand is millionaires, in the vast majority,
become millionaires by saving, not by investing, not by creating businesses,
not by flipping property. It's just saving over a lifetime, steady,
tortoise like saving and growth that happens. And guess what,
(11:00):
by the time twenty thirty years pass, Hey, you've got
enough money in the bank where you are, if not
a millionaire in terms of spendability, but certainly making your
life a whole lot easier. And one of the things
that I remember my first day of law school, and
(11:21):
the dean of law school said to a group of us, well,
there's two things that she said. First of all, right,
now everybody looked to the left, looked to the right,
and one of you will be gone by the end
of the year, because about thirty percent of law school
students drop out.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Because it's so difficult.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
So they say, so I turned to my guy on
the left goodbye, turned the one on the right and
said goodbye. And the other thing that the dean said,
which was still stays with me. I mean there were
time of forty years ago and she said, I know,
this sounds like a lot of work.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Over the next three years.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I know this sounds almost insurmountable with what we're going
to expect you to do and how difficult law school.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Is, but you want to know the three years pass anyway.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
And I that that's true because three years from now
I'll be on the other side of a law degree.
And so the point is that I think I'm going
to extrapolate from that to become a moderate millionaire or
even beyond that. Is so you put money away every month,
every month, every month, and you want to know the
(12:31):
time passes anyway, so you might as well make use
of it.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
I thought that was pretty good.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
And by the way, in my case, both the people
to my left and right dropped out of law school.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
They were tossed, which I thought was really terrific. I
got a lot of joy out of that.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
As you can probably imagine American consumers, that's all of us,
and a couple of things are going on. Prices are increasing,
even though we're being told by the White House prices.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Are down and continue to go down. Eh, not really.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Now, there's certain prices that have gone down, but I'll
tell you where they have not. Car prices they're going up,
and you know, we may have just reached the limit
American consumers. Car buyers may just say this is enough,
We're done. Big optimism for twenty twenty five at the
beginning of the year. Well, auto sales now is predicted
(13:33):
to be down or at least flat October, the slowest
in over a year. So what are we seeing dealers
offering more discounts, lower income borrowers defaulting on car loans
in increasing numbers. Financial strain, that's obvious because two things
that people will normally pay as quickly as they can
(13:54):
house payments, rent otherwise get tossed out car payments because
they have to go to work. And when someone arty
faulting on car payments. There's some really serious stuff going on.
And for years it seemed like they're no sticker price
was high enough. American car buyers just kept on buying
and buying. New car approaches hit fifty thousand dollars this year.
(14:15):
You know, with dealers were really concerned about were inventories,
We don't have enough inventory than losing customers. Well, those
days are coming to an end and rapidly, because stretched
consumers are starting to draw the line on what they're
going to pay for a new car. We've just had it.
We just can't do it. So what's happening. Car buyers
(14:36):
are downsizing. They're buying used cars, which of course those
are super expensive because there aren't as many being put
on the lots. They're taking on longer car loans. They
talked about that with with Joel Larsguard last week, and
they're just not buying the way they used to. Robert Peltier,
(14:59):
who owns a bunch of dealerships in East Texas, says
people are asking, how can I afford this? And so
where they're going cheaper cars like the pine size Chevrolet Tracks.
I never even heard of a tracks. Have you ever
heard of the tracks? I don't know what a tracks is?
Pine size car, I don't know. Maybe you know the
size of a sardine can.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
But anyway, he went on to say, people who are
in debt and are living paycheck to paycheck are looking
at these cars. So twenty twenty five supposed to be
a banner year. We had tax cuts, the regulatory wave,
and analytics analysts predicted a third straight annual sales increase.
(15:41):
Guess what didn't happen? Didn't happen, and why was it
going to be such a banner year. Well, the coronavirus
pandemic and the shortages are done. Semiconductor shortages are done. Finally,
the car factories got to running full steam and we
had real reason for optimism. There was a shortage because
(16:05):
of post COVID supply change that was done, and now
this pent up demand, consumers willing to pay when inventory
came back. And guess what, No, No, Now you have
auto tariffs, inflation, tighter job market, and all of a sudden,
Americans are rethinking the biggest ticket purchases, and one of
(16:27):
the biggest tickets, the biggest ticket purchase is the car
after the house, and if you're a renter, it's the
car after the car. And the other thing is the
EV revolution has collapsed. No one's buying evs anymore. I
mean that literally has collapse, where car companies are just
getting out of the EV business. I bought an EV,
(16:49):
I own an EV the second my and I'm leasing it.
I've done that for the last few years. The second
my leases up. Chow baby, I'm out of the EV world.
The seventy five one hundred dollars tax credit, which was gone.
That and the fact that there aren't enough charging stations
out there, and there's a whole world to evs that
(17:10):
were not told about. I found that out when I
went and went and bought a pair of a set
of tires. How much sorry that bought my car twenty
four hundred dollars hold for four for two, for four
for two?
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Can you imagine? For four?
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Four tires were twenty four hundred dollars six hundred bucks
a tire. I had no idea, And I come in,
I go, I only have eighteen thousand miles on this car.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
How can I have a new set of How can
I get a new set of tires?
Speaker 2 (17:35):
What are you guys thinking about eighteen thousand miles? Oh,
you're three thousand miles better than our average.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Thank you save a pile of money.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
But why do I have an EV and I paid
dearly for it relative to a gas powered car? Is
because of electricity savings and I don't have to go
into a gas station. Well I don't have to go
into a gas station, but I have to charge my car.
Electricity is not cheap. On top of that, I've got
range anxiety. How many miles do I have before I
(18:06):
run out of juice, and where the charging stations, and
unless you're going to a supercharger, of which they are
few and far between, you're sitting there for hours charging
a car. How long does it take you to fill
up a car at a gas station?
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Three minutes and you fill the thing up and off
you go. So there's a lot wrong with evs and
people realize, you know, these were not the panacea. So
October selling rate was the slowest and more than a year.
We haven't got Novembers yet, but cars are sitting longer
on dealer lots. Dealers are giving us more discounts, and
(18:43):
we're going to see. It's a whole new world now.
The very high end cars are doing okay. Why because
aren't many of them being built, And you have the
disparity between wealthy and poor is becoming wider and wider.
So those people who are on the wealthy side, the
wealth increases and they can afford the fancy, fancy cars.
(19:07):
But that number is not huge. It's bigger, but it's
not huge. In the meantime, on the other side of it,
before between inflation and housing costs and job uncertainty.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Man, it is not fun. And buying a used car today, well,
look even.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
The parts you buy a used car, Okay, I'm gonna
save a pile of money. Well, maintenance on a car
is not cheap. Have you ever replaced you get into
a bumper? A fender bender? Right?
Speaker 1 (19:38):
All right?
Speaker 2 (19:38):
How much can it cost for a offender? Fifteen hundred dollars?
Twelve hundred dollars? It's gotten crazy?
Speaker 1 (19:47):
All right? Ooh.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
One of the things that has come up, and we're
talking about this early this morning, is the story my
seven to fifty story, my personal experience that happened yesterday.
So let me first talk about what's going on in
the United States. Laws legalizing marijuana in state after state
(20:08):
has meant that the drug is certainly more accessible for adults,
both for recreational and medicinal purposes, depending on the state.
But that means that marijuana infused edibles are likely to
fall into the hands of young children.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
One of the things.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
About the creation of these laws allowing mainly recreational cannabis
is that they make these edibles that look like gummies,
that look like.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Straight out look like candy.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
So yesterday I was sitting at our kitchen counter, and
Lindsay was at work doing something on her computer, and
right in front of her was a starburst.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Oh those little.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Candies, you know, they're wrapped up and they look like
they're wrapped with wrapping paper. They have the fold and
they're stall You know those candies that everybody knows what
a starburst is, Right, Neil, you know what a starburst is?
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Amy, you know what a starburst is. Everybody knows what
a start.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Okay, so there's this little yellow starburst Cono, do you
know what a starburst is?
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Yes, yeah, okay, so everybody does. I just want to
make sure we're all on the same plane here. And
so I look at the starbursts, I go. I pick
it up and I start unwrapping it. And Lindsay said,
how high do you plan on getting?
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Go? What are you talking about? She said? That is
an edible that will knock you on your ass. Oh.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Now, let's say I'm a kid and it's just sitting there.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
What am I gonna do?
Speaker 2 (21:44):
I'm gonna grab it and I'm gonna unwrap it and
I'm gonna put in my mouth And can you imagine
a eight or ten or twelve year old or a
seven year old unwrapping one of those things. And that
is the problem is going on throughout the country big time.
And I've got a dog that's making all kinds of
noise here, Sorry about that.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Can you hear the dog squeaking? No? Okay, did you
just see one of those edibles? No? No, but my
dog just did.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
In any case, so, there are no federal packaging laws
for edibles. There are federal packaging laws for tobacco and alcohol,
but not from not for edibles. And therein is just
a touch of a problem because kids are in fact
eating them and they think they're candy.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
You know why, because they are candy.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
They are candy that are infused with cannabis, with THC
and in many cases a whole lot of THC. So
the edible that was sitting on our counter, as I've
spoken to you about it, and Neil certainly knows that firsthand,
is Lindsay has a severe autoimmune disease known as CRPS,
(22:57):
in which it's a lot of pain twenty four hours
a day. It's complex regional pain syndrome. So she eats
a lot of pot to deal with it. And I
if I were to pick one up. If I were
a kid and pick one up, I'd land in the hospital.
And too many kids have landed in the hospital, and
so there's a big movement afoot and all they have
(23:21):
at this point, since there are no federal packaging laws
and there's no necessary reporting, has to be done. If
a provider thinks that the kids are in danger for
what be because of what the parents say, they have
to call the authorities. But kids coming in high because
they accidentally ate an edible and they're going into the
(23:41):
r room, what's the doctor going to do? Just let
us let the child sleep it off and just be
more careful. Well, the laws are going to get much
more serious than that, because these actually endanger kids. And
is again to come to the point where, even if
they are candy or look like candy, do these have
(24:03):
to be labeled correctly?
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Are they going to have to be labeled?
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Are they going to be packaged in a way that
they are not attractive to youngsters that they don't look
like it's straight out starburst or a gummy. I mean
it looks well, I'm say it looks like it is.
It's just it's manufactured with all this cannabis and it's
(24:27):
a problem.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
It is a problem. It's a problem for me.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Yesterday I was about to take one. She should have
let me, actually, she thought, because it's highly entertaining. You
see me higher than a kite. I am not a
belligerent drunk, although I don't get drunk. I don't drink,
and that's one of the reasons, because I get stoned
or get drunk instantly, and the same thing with cannabis
(24:49):
or anything else. I look like I make myself an
ass now, Neil, I know I normally do. But if
you can figure out that I do it twice three
times as much, go figure all right?
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Coming up rich to Murrow, KFI is.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Funny, Bill, if you spoke normal and didn't do malaprops
and things like that when you're high.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Uh, that's true. What if I got high? Would you
be so kind as to get me something from the
you know, it's almost you know.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
The the analogy here is kids who have a severe
autism issue. And what has happened is that kids who
are out of control, you know a lot of ADHD.
They've actually used Riddlin, which is an upper to deal
with and it works, and that's really unusual. So for me, oh,
(25:41):
since I sound stone and out of control anyways, in
terms of my ability to communicate, can you imagine if
I got high and then was able to communicate like
a professional broadcaster.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
It's worth thinking about, isn't it. Kfi A M sixty
you've been listening to The Bill Handle Show. Catch my
Show Monday through Friday, six am
Speaker 2 (26:04):
To nine am, and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
AM six forty handle. Here it is a Tacol Tuesday
Summer night. Some of the stories we're looking at yesterday
Mulholland Snake, Well, the Mulholland Snake, that area of Maulholland
Boulevard that just opened up after a couple of years
and it was hideously dangerous. And so it's good news
because it already saw its first crash, what twenty two
(00:31):
seconds after it opened up, which is absolutely great news. Also,
a new star is going on Hollywood Walk of Fame
and I didn't know you could even do this, And
it's going to be dedicated to the brave heroes legitimately
who battled the Palisades and Sunset fires earlier this year.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Not that they don't deserve it, they do.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I just didn't know that the Walk of Fame I
had organizations as part of it, you know, much like
the I think the Nobel Peace Price can go to organizations,
which it has in the past.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
So this is well, they certainly deserve it. Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Now a little bit about the data center, the data
center boom, and we know that AI sucks up a
tremendous amount of power. And where do you get the
power again from utilities of course. And here is what's
going on, and this is the part that's kind of interesting.
This came out of a cal Matters event in downtown
(01:31):
San Jose. And the bottom line is AI and growing
demand for these centers putting a lot new pressure on
it California's electric grid. Which makes sense because when we're
talking about a whole lot of pressure, you got to
build more.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
We have to produce more energy.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
It's not only a question of the power plants, but
also the infrastructure, the power lines, the transformers to transfer
all this power around. Well, San Jose, with this took place,
is ground zero for how California is going to deal
with the rise of data centers that are going to
be used to power artificial intelligence. And here is the
(02:10):
fly in the ointment, and that is the utility has
to effectively guess how much power is going to be
needed by these data centers.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
You can't do it retrospectively.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
You have to do it proactively because let's say data
center is built and all of a sudden, it needs
a hell of a lot more power than is currently available.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
In that region.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Well, how long you think it takes to build up
more power. You just don't overnight build new power plants
or install transmission lines or basically enhance the grid. So
what happens is they have to guess and this is
what the utilities are going up to the state because
the state controls this and saying we think this is
(02:58):
going to happen. We don't know if it's true or not,
but we want the capability of this happening. And first
of all, the state has to give the ability for
them to even begin. They have to ask permission to
build these power sites, the plants, the power lines, transmission lines, etc.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
And then the argument is.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
How much capability should or should they not have, and
what should they build in anticipation and who pays for it?
And that's the fight that's going on because forecasting is
particularly tough. And why well, I'll tell you there was
one of the experts, ling Men, who directs Stanford's Bits
(03:40):
and Watts initiative, says that forecasting is really tough. Why well,
let's look at chat, GPT the app and other apps
of that same milk that use large language models. Which
ones are going to take off which ones are not,
how popular are they going to be, How much electricity
(04:04):
is going to be needed, How much power is going
to be needed to build and to build, create and
maintain these power these data centers. No one has any idea,
and the utilities have to guess. So local officials have
begun to grapple with all of this. Also, keep in
(04:26):
mind that by twenty forty five we have to be
what is the word I'm looking for, By twenty twenty five,
we have to be carbon free, that's the phrase, carbon
free electricity by twenty forty five.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
So you have we can't even do it now.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Why is that even if we go one hundred percent
carbon free, they're still backup generators.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
And what do you do during heat spells?
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Right now, we only use a portion of what the
capability is like normally you wake up this morning, we're
about forty five percent of the capability of what the
the grid could produce. Well, okay, nothing, We have plenty
of power, not when it's hot, not when it's insanely hot,
we don't, and so add to the demand when it's
(05:11):
insanely hot, and a data center which they have to
keep be kept very cold and they're massive. Put all
that together, and you're gonna need a lot more electricity. Okay,
how much?
Speaker 1 (05:23):
We don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Well, how big is the power grade? What do you
think is gonna have to be? We don't know, but
we want the ability to create it. We want the
permission from the state. Well we don't really know why.
We don't know how big, but you sort of everybody
has to guess.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
That's the problem.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
It's going to be a big, big, big deal, all right,
already being reported. Have you ever heard of the phrase
moderate millionaires? What is a moderate millionaire? Is it a
millionaire who is moderate?
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Actually? Maybe?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
So let's talk about millionaires per se. That's a million
dollars in assets, all right, probably not including the house.
The number of four to one k millionaires at Fidelity
reached six hundred and fifty four thousand. That's the highest
level three point two accounts balances over a million dollars.
That may seem like a small amount. That's double though
(06:21):
than it was in twenty twenty two. And the average
deferral rate, and that's the money you put into it
that you don't pay taxes on at Vanguard increase almost
eight percent. So this millionaire club is growing. Yet it
is a moderate millionaires club. And I'll explain in a
(06:42):
moment what moderate millionaires are all about. For one thing,
they're moderate, and second of all, they are millionaires, which
is why they call it moderate millionaires.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
I'll explain it. Very complicated stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
So we're talking about steady saving, third consecutive year, big
games for the US stocks, swollen account balances. People that
have four oh one k's and have invested the over
the last two three years, there's been a lot of gain.
So people who keep on investing or have invested are
doing really well, and a whole lot of them across
(07:18):
a million dollar milestone that's in your four oh one
k a million bucks. For the first time, half of
private sector workers are saving in four oh one case.
First time that over half are actually putting in four
oh one case. By the way, you guys are nuts
not to put in for four one case, especially if
(07:38):
you're in a company that matches, which ours used to.
Now I don't think iHeart matches does any more matching.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
It still does.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
It matches the amount of amount of money that you
put in. By pulling it out, is that the matching
that they do here's what companies Again it is okay,
well imagine this, so three percent matching. So let's say
you make one hundred thousand dollars. I don't know who
does that, but let's say that's three thousand dollars that
(08:09):
you're allowed to put in tax deferred into a four
oh one K that is matched, which means for that
three thousand dollars, you're making one hundred percent interest rate.
And that's assuming that the market doesn't even go up,
so at least that you are crazy, cause whatever the
investment can you double every year. And that's what happens
(08:31):
with four oh one K plans and matching money. And
so the other thing about four oh one ks is
you put money in and it's deductible. So let's go
back to the one hundred thousand dollars income. I think
you're allowed to put up to fifteen percent in your
four oh one K. I think that's the law. Well,
if you put in fifteen percent, that's fifteen thousand dollars.
(08:54):
That means your taxable income goes down. Fifteen thousand dollars
is tax deferred. So it's a great idea, it's a
great plan. And so.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Here we go, what is.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
A moderate millionaire, especially here in southern California. Well, a
moderate millionaire has a million dollars. As a matter of fact,
this model that they're talking about is between one and
five million dollars in your four to oh one K plan.
(09:28):
So for those of you that have hit hit a
million dollars in four oh one K, that is not
a bad income because if at five percent, you're getting
fifty thousand dollars with a million dollars put away, fifty
thousand dollars in retirement is not a bad but it's
not a bad chunk of money.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
But are you still middle class? And here's what a
survey said.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
People that have a million dollars shop like their middle
class people that have up to five millionar that's one
to five moderate millionaires. They think of themselves as middle
class and they shop as if they are middle class.
(10:13):
And this is one of those things where if you
are smart enough over a lifetime to live under your means,
which most people should do. I know Neil lives way
under his means, and I live way under my means,
which means that our retirement is going to be pretty good,
pretty good, And that's really the secret what a lot
(10:35):
of people don't understand is millionaires, in the vast majority,
become millionaires by saving, not by investing, not by creating businesses,
not by flipping property. It's just saving over a lifetime, steady,
tortoise like saving and growth that happens. And guess what,
(11:00):
by the time twenty thirty years pass, Hey, you've got
enough money in the bank where you are, if not
a millionaire in terms of spendability, but certainly making your
life a whole lot easier. And one of the things
that I remember my first day of law school, and
(11:21):
the dean of law school said to a group of us, well,
there's two things that she said. First of all, right,
now everybody looked to the left, looked to the right,
and one of you will be gone by the end
of the year, because about thirty percent of law school
students drop out.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Because it's so difficult.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
So they say, so I turned to my guy on
the left goodbye, turned the one on the right and
said goodbye. And the other thing that the dean said,
which was still stays with me. I mean there were
time of forty years ago and she said, I know,
this sounds like a lot of work.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Over the next three years.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I know this sounds almost insurmountable with what we're going
to expect you to do and how difficult law school.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Is, but you want to know the three years pass anyway.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
And I that that's true because three years from now
I'll be on the other side of a law degree.
And so the point is that I think I'm going
to extrapolate from that to become a moderate millionaire or
even beyond that. Is so you put money away every month,
every month, every month, and you want to know the
(12:31):
time passes anyway, so you might as well make use
of it.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
I thought that was pretty good.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
And by the way, in my case, both the people
to my left and right dropped out of law school.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
They were tossed, which I thought was really terrific. I
got a lot of joy out of that.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
As you can probably imagine American consumers, that's all of us,
and a couple of things are going on. Prices are increasing,
even though we're being told by the White House prices.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Are down and continue to go down. Eh, not really.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Now, there's certain prices that have gone down, but I'll
tell you where they have not. Car prices they're going up,
and you know, we may have just reached the limit
American consumers. Car buyers may just say this is enough,
We're done. Big optimism for twenty twenty five at the
beginning of the year. Well, auto sales now is predicted
(13:33):
to be down or at least flat October, the slowest
in over a year. So what are we seeing dealers
offering more discounts, lower income borrowers defaulting on car loans
in increasing numbers. Financial strain, that's obvious because two things
that people will normally pay as quickly as they can
(13:54):
house payments, rent otherwise get tossed out car payments because
they have to go to work. And when someone arty
faulting on car payments. There's some really serious stuff going on.
And for years it seemed like they're no sticker price
was high enough. American car buyers just kept on buying
and buying. New car approaches hit fifty thousand dollars this year.
(14:15):
You know, with dealers were really concerned about were inventories,
We don't have enough inventory than losing customers. Well, those
days are coming to an end and rapidly, because stretched
consumers are starting to draw the line on what they're
going to pay for a new car. We've just had it.
We just can't do it. So what's happening. Car buyers
(14:36):
are downsizing. They're buying used cars, which of course those
are super expensive because there aren't as many being put
on the lots. They're taking on longer car loans. They
talked about that with with Joel Larsguard last week, and
they're just not buying the way they used to. Robert Peltier,
(14:59):
who owns a bunch of dealerships in East Texas, says
people are asking, how can I afford this? And so
where they're going cheaper cars like the pine size Chevrolet Tracks.
I never even heard of a tracks. Have you ever
heard of the tracks? I don't know what a tracks is?
Pine size car, I don't know. Maybe you know the
size of a sardine can.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
But anyway, he went on to say, people who are
in debt and are living paycheck to paycheck are looking
at these cars. So twenty twenty five supposed to be
a banner year. We had tax cuts, the regulatory wave,
and analytics analysts predicted a third straight annual sales increase.
(15:41):
Guess what didn't happen? Didn't happen, and why was it
going to be such a banner year. Well, the coronavirus
pandemic and the shortages are done. Semiconductor shortages are done. Finally,
the car factories got to running full steam and we
had real reason for optimism. There was a shortage because
(16:05):
of post COVID supply change that was done, and now
this pent up demand, consumers willing to pay when inventory
came back. And guess what, No, No, Now you have
auto tariffs, inflation, tighter job market, and all of a sudden,
Americans are rethinking the biggest ticket purchases, and one of
(16:27):
the biggest tickets, the biggest ticket purchase is the car
after the house, and if you're a renter, it's the
car after the car. And the other thing is the
EV revolution has collapsed. No one's buying evs anymore. I
mean that literally has collapse, where car companies are just
getting out of the EV business. I bought an EV,
(16:49):
I own an EV the second my and I'm leasing it.
I've done that for the last few years. The second
my leases up. Chow baby, I'm out of the EV world.
The seventy five one hundred dollars tax credit, which was gone.
That and the fact that there aren't enough charging stations
out there, and there's a whole world to evs that
(17:10):
were not told about. I found that out when I
went and went and bought a pair of a set
of tires. How much sorry that bought my car twenty
four hundred dollars hold for four for two, for four
for two?
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Can you imagine? For four?
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Four tires were twenty four hundred dollars six hundred bucks
a tire. I had no idea, And I come in,
I go, I only have eighteen thousand miles on this car.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
How can I have a new set of How can
I get a new set of tires?
Speaker 2 (17:35):
What are you guys thinking about eighteen thousand miles? Oh,
you're three thousand miles better than our average.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Thank you save a pile of money.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
But why do I have an EV and I paid
dearly for it relative to a gas powered car? Is
because of electricity savings and I don't have to go
into a gas station. Well I don't have to go
into a gas station, but I have to charge my car.
Electricity is not cheap. On top of that, I've got
range anxiety. How many miles do I have before I
(18:06):
run out of juice, and where the charging stations, and
unless you're going to a supercharger, of which they are
few and far between, you're sitting there for hours charging
a car. How long does it take you to fill
up a car at a gas station?
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Three minutes and you fill the thing up and off
you go. So there's a lot wrong with evs and
people realize, you know, these were not the panacea. So
October selling rate was the slowest and more than a year.
We haven't got Novembers yet, but cars are sitting longer
on dealer lots. Dealers are giving us more discounts, and
(18:43):
we're going to see. It's a whole new world now.
The very high end cars are doing okay. Why because
aren't many of them being built, And you have the
disparity between wealthy and poor is becoming wider and wider.
So those people who are on the wealthy side, the
wealth increases and they can afford the fancy, fancy cars.
(19:07):
But that number is not huge. It's bigger, but it's
not huge. In the meantime, on the other side of it,
before between inflation and housing costs and job uncertainty.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Man, it is not fun. And buying a used car today, well,
look even.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
The parts you buy a used car, Okay, I'm gonna
save a pile of money. Well, maintenance on a car
is not cheap. Have you ever replaced you get into
a bumper? A fender bender? Right?
Speaker 1 (19:38):
All right?
Speaker 2 (19:38):
How much can it cost for a offender? Fifteen hundred dollars?
Twelve hundred dollars? It's gotten crazy?
Speaker 1 (19:47):
All right? Ooh.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
One of the things that has come up, and we're
talking about this early this morning, is the story my
seven to fifty story, my personal experience that happened yesterday.
So let me first talk about what's going on in
the United States. Laws legalizing marijuana in state after state
(20:08):
has meant that the drug is certainly more accessible for adults,
both for recreational and medicinal purposes, depending on the state.
But that means that marijuana infused edibles are likely to
fall into the hands of young children.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
One of the things.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
About the creation of these laws allowing mainly recreational cannabis
is that they make these edibles that look like gummies,
that look like.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Straight out look like candy.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
So yesterday I was sitting at our kitchen counter, and
Lindsay was at work doing something on her computer, and
right in front of her was a starburst.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Oh those little.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Candies, you know, they're wrapped up and they look like
they're wrapped with wrapping paper. They have the fold and
they're stall You know those candies that everybody knows what
a starburst is, Right, Neil, you know what a starburst is?
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Amy, you know what a starburst is. Everybody knows what
a start.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Okay, so there's this little yellow starburst Cono, do you
know what a starburst is?
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Yes, yeah, okay, so everybody does. I just want to
make sure we're all on the same plane here. And
so I look at the starbursts, I go. I pick
it up and I start unwrapping it. And Lindsay said,
how high do you plan on getting?
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Go? What are you talking about? She said? That is
an edible that will knock you on your ass. Oh.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Now, let's say I'm a kid and it's just sitting there.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
What am I gonna do?
Speaker 2 (21:44):
I'm gonna grab it and I'm gonna unwrap it and
I'm gonna put in my mouth And can you imagine
a eight or ten or twelve year old or a
seven year old unwrapping one of those things. And that
is the problem is going on throughout the country big time.
And I've got a dog that's making all kinds of
noise here, Sorry about that.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Can you hear the dog squeaking? No? Okay, did you
just see one of those edibles? No? No, but my
dog just did.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
In any case, so, there are no federal packaging laws
for edibles. There are federal packaging laws for tobacco and alcohol,
but not from not for edibles. And therein is just
a touch of a problem because kids are in fact
eating them and they think they're candy.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
You know why, because they are candy.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
They are candy that are infused with cannabis, with THC
and in many cases a whole lot of THC. So
the edible that was sitting on our counter, as I've
spoken to you about it, and Neil certainly knows that firsthand,
is Lindsay has a severe autoimmune disease known as CRPS,
(22:57):
in which it's a lot of pain twenty four hours
a day. It's complex regional pain syndrome. So she eats
a lot of pot to deal with it. And I
if I were to pick one up. If I were
a kid and pick one up, I'd land in the hospital.
And too many kids have landed in the hospital, and
so there's a big movement afoot and all they have
(23:21):
at this point, since there are no federal packaging laws
and there's no necessary reporting, has to be done. If
a provider thinks that the kids are in danger for
what be because of what the parents say, they have
to call the authorities. But kids coming in high because
they accidentally ate an edible and they're going into the
(23:41):
r room, what's the doctor going to do? Just let
us let the child sleep it off and just be
more careful. Well, the laws are going to get much
more serious than that, because these actually endanger kids. And
is again to come to the point where, even if
they are candy or look like candy, do these have
(24:03):
to be labeled correctly?
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Are they going to have to be labeled?
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Are they going to be packaged in a way that
they are not attractive to youngsters that they don't look
like it's straight out starburst or a gummy. I mean
it looks well, I'm say it looks like it is.
It's just it's manufactured with all this cannabis and it's
(24:27):
a problem.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
It is a problem. It's a problem for me.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Yesterday I was about to take one. She should have
let me, actually, she thought, because it's highly entertaining. You
see me higher than a kite. I am not a
belligerent drunk, although I don't get drunk. I don't drink,
and that's one of the reasons, because I get stoned
or get drunk instantly, and the same thing with cannabis
(24:49):
or anything else. I look like I make myself an
ass now, Neil, I know I normally do. But if
you can figure out that I do it twice three
times as much, go figure all right?
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Coming up rich to Murrow, KFI is.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Funny, Bill, if you spoke normal and didn't do malaprops
and things like that when you're high.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Uh, that's true. What if I got high? Would you
be so kind as to get me something from the
you know, it's almost you know.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
The the analogy here is kids who have a severe
autism issue. And what has happened is that kids who
are out of control, you know a lot of ADHD.
They've actually used Riddlin, which is an upper to deal
with and it works, and that's really unusual. So for me, oh,
(25:41):
since I sound stone and out of control anyways, in
terms of my ability to communicate, can you imagine if
I got high and then was able to communicate like
a professional broadcaster.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
It's worth thinking about, isn't it. Kfi A M sixty
you've been listening to The Bill Handle Show. Catch my
Show Monday through Friday, six am
Speaker 2 (26:04):
To nine am, and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
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