ASK HANDEL ANYTHING

INSIDE THE FIASCO AT THE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL THE CALIFORNIA FILM TAX CREDIT DEBATE RETURNS ASK HANDEL ANYTHING

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to k f I Am six forty the
Bill Handles show on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Coming
to the bottom of the hour. It is ask handle anything,
and this is what the fun topics that we do.
Neil Savedra is not here today. Neil is sick, so
we're not doing Foody Friday today. Instead, I'm doing a
couple of other topics in the eight o'clock hour, the

(00:23):
first part of the eight o'clock hour. What else is
going on today? Oh, Kono is also sick, so we
have what's his face over there? Tony? Oh that's right.
How long have I known you, Tony? Since I started here?
So almost thirty years? Thirty years? Okay, I genuinely just

(00:43):
forgot your name one more time. I'm honest to god,
I genuinely just forgot your name. There you go. I
don't mind. That's time. Yeah, I know. I've been bored up.
I'm supposed to be invisible. No one's supposed to know
me anyway. Well, okay, well said, hey, let me tell
you what's going on at the National Security Council. Now,
I'm getting a lot of grief for talking a lot
about Trump. For the most part, negatively, because you know

(01:06):
where I am on this one. And at the same time,
I think I'm being fair, assuming that I have biased
and you accept the fact that I'm biased like crazy.
But when I believe Trump deserves credit, I give it
to him. Not with the National Security Council. The dismissals
at the National Security Council, I mean people are wheeling,

(01:28):
especially in the security aspect of the United States. National
Security Council is a part of the US government that
provides a forum for the president to consider pressing national
security and foreign policy issues. These are senior advisors and
they the NSSE is a sort of a think tank

(01:52):
for the president. Now, the NSC is not independent. The
NSC work for the president, There's no question about it.
But at the same time, there you put experts, or
presidents put in experts. Some experts were not particularly in
favor of the agenda of the president, but they're there

(02:14):
as a sounding board. Well, the sounding board was fired.
It was the first part of the federal workforce to
be purged when Trump returned to power in January, two
days into the second term. This is before Dodge came
in there. Okay, the Dodge arrives at the federal agencies
with orders were firing everybody way. Before that, the council's

(02:39):
new leaders banished dozens of career officials. Now the top
senior senior positions of the NSC. They're appointed by Trump,
there's no question about it, and they're to adhere to
Trump's or any president's agenda, with the understanding, here's some advice,
mister president. You may not like it, but here is

(02:59):
the reality. Well, the top leaders banished dozens of career officials,
people who had been there that aren't political. It's just
they're there to work the system. Gone. They were told
on a conference call leave the Eisenhower Executive Office Building,
which is where they're located. One of them said, I

(03:22):
offered to bring my computer back, and they said, no,
you can't even come into the building. He said. Everything
was bizarre. Whole offices were emptied, including the unit focused
on the Western hemispheres done by hemisphere career experts were
pushed aside. None of the twenty six executive orders issued
by Trump on his first day was reviewed anymore by

(03:44):
NSC lawyers. NSC lawyers review everything that the president does
in terms of foreign relations and what they're doing, what
they do is they screen foreign policy decisions and actions
to ensure the president is lawfully using executive power. Well,
you don't need them if your position is everything I

(04:06):
do is legitimate and legal. I don't need anybody telling
me that what I'm doing is illegal if I believe
everything I do is legal. And the President has said
that a president, any president, but specifically, has ultimate power
to do anything he wants. And the Supreme Court has

(04:27):
effectively backed up that premise, saying if it is a
national issue, if the president is acting within the purview
of the presidency, then he cannot be held responsible in
any way. Congress can't nail him, certainly, the Department of
Justice can't nail him. He cannot commit a crime no
matter what he does. Well, the NSC you don't add anymore.

(04:52):
And that's exactly what happened. They got tossed. And I'll
tell you what's happening up there is they are reeling.
I use that word a lot, really, because I think
that's a lot of reaction to Trump's decision, not only
by business and individuals and the world markets and the

(05:15):
economic powers around the world, but within the administration, people
are going, what the hell's going on. We don't know.
For example, the tariffs. The announcement of the tariffs, he
didn't go to the senior economic advisors. They were taken
for a loop. They heard at the same time we did,
all of a sudden, here's some tariffs. We're going for

(05:37):
one hundred and forty five percent on China. Huh. Really,
at least with that the senior advisor's Treasury secretary other's
way up there. Commerce Secretary turned around and said, mister President,
maybe you don't want to do that, announcing that he's

(05:59):
going to fire your own Powell. The day after, when
the market tanked and a thousand percent or a thousand
points went south on that, he at least listened when
they said, you really can't do that, because saying you're
going to fire Jerome Powell the head of the Fed.

(06:20):
Instantly the entire world economic powers react because it wasn't
just our stock market that went down. We're talking about
markets across the world tanked, and there was real fear
that a trade war was going to start. By the way,
that fear is still here that a trade war is

(06:41):
going to start, and a full blown trade war, well,
that blows up the economy. Let me give you a
little bit of history. Okay, the depression hits, and one
of the things that was done during the depression is
that they pot past the Smoot Holly Act. Congress did
And what it did is it was a protectionist bill

(07:04):
that set up tariffs so it would be American products
that would only be sold by law. Nothing could be effectively,
nothing could be imported in. And it was to protect
American American business, American employees, et cetera. It was one
of the major movers of the depression. It went completely

(07:25):
the other way. And that is the argument that's going
on right now is that tariffs are going to actually
do so much harm to our economy that the workers,
the business, the implementation, the investment by the various companies

(07:45):
American companies are simply not going to happen. How many
companies have announced since the embargo, since the tariff argument
was brought up, since the announcement, that they're going to
be spending billions of dollars here Now the administration has said,
oh yeah, companies are lining up and trillions of dollars

(08:06):
have been promised. Trillions, not billions. Okay, we'll see if
that works. Unfortunately, trillions of dollars of new investment in factories,
et cetera. That's years down the road. Embargoes are going
on right now. When Trump announced one hundred and forty

(08:27):
five percent embargo, that happened at midnight. All right, Moving
on California film tax credit, that debate returns. Why because
in this day of age, the golden age of television
and streaming and the number of movies that are being produced,
these folks are leaving California like crazy. And I'll talk

(08:49):
about that coming back, because we'll see what California is doing.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
Footy Friday without the food. Neil is not feeling well.
Hopefully back on Monday, and so next Friday we'll do
the foody Friday part of our show. Also tonight, the
Dodgers are back in LA and they take on the
Pirates with the first pitch at seven. Listen to all
the Dodger games on AM five to seven The LA Sports.

(09:18):
Stream all Dodgers games and HD on the iHeartRadio app
Keyword AM five seven the LA Sports. It's sponsored by
Zen She she handcrafted sushi made fresh every day and
it's at rals near the deli counter. Film and TV
I have that right hold on, Okay, there we go. Whoa, oh,

(09:40):
there you are. Okay, I had a glitch. They are
going on in my headset film and TV production in
Southern California. Well, film was actually created Southern California, or
Southern California created the film industry and the TV industry.
I mean it's just synonymous. We are the film industry.
And for many years, decades, the first part of the

(10:03):
last century right into well recently, everything was done in Hollywood.
Occasionally there would be location shooting, but for the most part,
everything was done in Hollywood. Well that ended because you
have various countries and certainly various states realized, you know,
having films made here is really a good thing. Because

(10:25):
production companies coming in in film where we are spend
a whole lot of money. They pay their people, well,
they have to put them up in hotels, they need
at restaurants, providing jobs for a whole lot of companies
out there. And we're talking about you know, films are
and the tens, the hundreds of millions of dollars. So

(10:47):
it's no joke. And so what they started doing is
offering tax credits and in some cases offering straight out
money will help you make a film. Here, Georgia, the Carolinas,
You've got countries that are doing this. New Zealand with
Peter Jackson, You've got Ukraine doing this when you're talking

(11:14):
about Game of Thrones. I mean, everybody's lining up. They
want production companies, so they're giving tax credits and they're
giving money. So California is looking at hemorrhaging of the
film industry, film and television industry, and now the industry
has come to Sacramento and said, we need help. I mean,
we need help. And this is one of those issues

(11:36):
where both the unions and the production companies, the movie
and television producers are step in step. I mean they
are lined up together, and that never happens because all
of them want to keep the industry here in southern California.
So two bills have been introduced intended to make California's

(11:58):
film and TV production more competitive, the incentives more competitive,
increasing the tax credit up to thirty five percent of
qualified expenditures and expanding the types of productions that would
be eligible. So the tax credit people ask, what is
that about, Well, companies own or companies owe the state

(12:19):
of California taxes. Any company that works here in the
state pays taxes, the film credit tax thirty five percent.
What it does, it can be used by that company
for any tax that it owes in the state of California.

(12:40):
And so imagine you owe property taxes and you engage
in a certain field or do some kind of a job,
and doing that it cuts your tax liability by a third.
That's big money. And that's what's happening here and what
these film companies are saying in the unions, this is

(13:03):
a lifeline for the entertainment industry battered in recent years
because you had the pandemic, which battered everybody. You had
the writers and actor strikes in twenty twenty three decimated
the industry. The studios are spending less money. I mean,
they do spend money on these tent pole pictures, but

(13:23):
as far as independent films and the kind of money
that's being spent and sort of the middle of the
line films, many fewer films are being made and television
shows are being made in southern California, and they're pulling
back money. Then you had the wildfires, and then you
had just this trend of the production companies leaving Rebecca Ryan,

(13:44):
who is the executive director of the Director's Guild of America, says,
we don't want to become the car industry in Detroit
or the aerospace industry in California. When our industry thrives,
we think California thrives. So the bill goes through the
State Senate Committee, Revenue and Taxation Committee, and the Assembly

(14:07):
Arts and Entertainment Committee unanimously. And so it's moving forward.
By the way, Governor Gavin Newsom called last year to
more than double the money allocated to the film and
TV tax credit program. And so you think it's an
automatic it's going to pass. Maybe not, Maybe not. The

(14:28):
tax credit program was introduced in two thousand and nine
under former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Surprised that Schwarzenegger would want
to bring a TV and film production back to the
back southern California. In a recent post on X, Assembly
member Corey Jackson said, and here's the issue on the

(14:49):
other side of this, saying, what are we doing giving
tax breaks to film companies when we could be spending
money to help the homelessness and allow so many kids
to live in poverty, all of this for corporate and
movie studio tax breaks. So I think it just boils
down to simple numbers, that's it. And those people that

(15:12):
say we shouldn't spend the money on these tax credits,
let's help the poor, the homeless, that's help California citizens
who need help, the marginalized. And so the answer is
real simple as far as I'm concerned. Okay, X tax
credit is given to a production company to stay in
southern California or a film here. How much money does

(15:32):
it generate for the economy? Okay, let's figure it out.
And those that are saying that it's not worth it, Okay,
how much does it cost? What is the loss to
the economy? You take money out of our budget, or
at least you don't get money into our budget because
the tax we would normally get California normally get is

(15:54):
not getting. So that's a cost. What is the benefit?
And they just figure it out there it is. Now
I'm in favor because I kind of like California to
have this film production. Well that's not true. Actually, you
ever lived in a neighborhood or been in a neighborhood
where a film production company is out there. When I

(16:15):
had the Persian Palace, there was the major street leading
to my house and that was the only way I
could get in. There was a production company. There was
a house along the way and it was being used
by I think a TV show and it was once
a week for months at a time, they'd block off
the street and I'd have a cop sitting there, you know,

(16:40):
stopping traffic when we'd be backed up because this film
company was there. So, you know what, I've just changed
my mind. Screw the film companies. Let them film someplace else. Done.
See how I can do that, because I just remember that, Yeah,
get out. Oh that's the only thing cops in forms

(17:00):
do that. Do you know that? It's the only time
where security is given by off duty cops and they're
in LAPD uniforms and on their motorcycles because usually cops
doing security can't be dressed as cops. They can on
that street. And I try to crash the craft's table

(17:23):
because the food is really good, and I'll park my
car and try to crash and have lunch. Can't do it.
Security is too good, unfortunately, coming up ask candle anything.
We do it every Friday right here. Don't go away.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
I'm sorry, hold, I said, put on your headphones. I am.
I'm putting on my headsets, all right, hold on, hold on,
hold on?

Speaker 3 (17:52):
Uh okay, I said, oh sure, blame me.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
Oh I am blaming you. Thank you. So we're talking
about Disneyland and crazy I mean crazy stuff. We're talking
about how crowd it is. She's a disney fanatic. Of course.
She gets season tickets and I go.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
I get season tickets to the Dodgers. I get an
annual pass.

Speaker 1 (18:11):
The same thing, season tickets to both and she's telling
me about the VIP experience where you don't wait in
line for anything five thousand dollars per day roughly. Oh,
I'm sorry, but it's all day. Okay, great things, it's.

Speaker 3 (18:25):
All day and it's a group of like eight to
ten people.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
Okay, great, all right, it's time for do they have
a case or ask handle anything? That's even better where
basically people just ask questions of me and I just
have a great time answering and it's completely humiliating. So
let's do it, Tony. First question, this.

Speaker 4 (18:45):
Is for Bill Handle, ask handle anything. What's the deal
with your new wife versus your old wife? And how
many wives have you had? And all of us are
very curious. Yeah, doesn't you could please explain.

Speaker 1 (18:59):
That dozens of wives? This is number two? And what's
with it? I got divorced and I marry someone else?
Is that complicated? That's the deal? Okay? Nice question. Well,
by the way, I hear these questions for the first time,
I mean we it would kneel and and go through

(19:21):
them and pick these out. Okay, next question, let's hey,
you handle this.

Speaker 2 (19:25):
As Dave from Westcovina, I was wondering how much your
net worth was because I looked it up and it
set somewhere fifty five to seventy five million, which is crazy.

Speaker 3 (19:35):
I don't know how you made that much money, but
I think it was long.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
It is wrong by Yeah, here's the problem. It's where
you looked at me. Yeah. No, it's where you look
that up. And there are some that give my net
worth at ridiculously low, where I'm going, come on, I'm
doing better than that. And then there are others which
give my net worth and the hundreds of millions of dollars.

(20:00):
Let me ask you if I was worth anywhere near that,
do you think I would be sitting here answering that
question or would I have my assistance assistant answer the question?
So that net worth business because I always look it up. Man,
whenever there's we're talking about a star. What's Tom Cruise worth?
You know what's Donald Trump worth? Well? Ask Donald Trump.

(20:21):
He's worth one hundred and fifty billion dollars. But uh, yeah,
you it's But thank you. You're giving me a lot
of credit, much more, much more than I deserve. Okay,
onwards and upwards.

Speaker 5 (20:33):
This is Karen and Jarrett from Magnolia Texas. We love camp.
We listened to you all the time. But why are
you such a dick?

Speaker 1 (20:41):
Okay, that's a nice bill, you know, that's a very
good question. And by the way, thanks for being on
a speaker phone. That helps a lot. Uh so tell
you what what if I answer from back here? Huh
that's one of the reasons I'm a dick, all right,
you know what, because that's who I am. I have
always been that way, I probably always will be that way.

(21:04):
And uh, I mean, ann am I off the air
a nice guy at all? No? No, I'm not. Now
do people hate me around here pretty much. They do.
They do. Ah, people ask me every day? How do
you work with them? I know?

Speaker 2 (21:17):
You see?

Speaker 1 (21:18):
And that is why we're doing Ask Candell Anything for
exactly that reason, because people want to know Amy. People
ask about you. They asked me about you? Is she
really this neel and freak? I go yes, yes, to
the point where it's a sickness. Yes, Tony, nobody cares
about you. Okay. I just want to let you know, right, Amy, Yeah,

(21:42):
why don't we?

Speaker 3 (21:43):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (21:43):
I was going to ask you a question, Ask Amy anything?
And I just I can't think of anything. What you
remember the Auto Club?

Speaker 3 (21:52):
So ask Amy anything, because yours is.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
That's all? You know what? That's so good? You're right,
you are absolutely right. Oh I may steal that. Uh huh.
Ask handle anything but gas Gary and Shannon. That's kind
of cute, you know it is. Yeah, it's like the
Tim Conway Show. It's the Tim Conway Show. All right,

(22:17):
We're gonna take a break, come back, and we'll finish
up with ask handle Anything on KFI.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.

Speaker 1 (22:28):
Oh and Neil Isn't Here and Kono isn't here, but
Amy is and ann is and Tony in for Kono.
And if you don't know who Tony is, don't worry
about that because none of us know who Tony is.
All Right, we're back to an ending ask handle anything,

(22:48):
and we do that every single week. Have you noticed
the questions are coming in, I mean really personal questions. Yeah,
you know it's yeah, okay, So let's go ahead and
we'll answer or I'll answer the rest of the questions Tony.
Next question, this isn't ask Bill anything.

Speaker 5 (23:07):
Question Bill, I've listened to you for over thirty years,
and I've seen you go through a lot of physical pain.
What has been the worst physical pain you've gone through?
And does that help you relate to Lindsay.

Speaker 1 (23:20):
I think the worst physical pain I ever went through
is when I was circumcised when I was eight days old.
It was it's a Jewish thing and it's it's a
little tough to say the least. So what is the
worst physical pain I've been through? Actually, probably my back

(23:41):
when I had my back went out and I got
an infection. It was in the hospital and I had
a I had a cyst right next to my spinal cord,
it got infected and it went into the spinal cord.
And I've never ever experience pain like that in my

(24:01):
entire life. And even pain medication just did absolutely nothing.
And what was the part of the other part of
the question. I completely forgot how I can relate to
lindsay yeah, and she has a lot of pain too,
So we go through life in a lot of pain.
As a matter of fact, everybody that I work with

(24:22):
goes through life in a lot of pain. Different way
of doing it, all right, Tony, See, I'm telling you
these are questions that people ask an all the time.
What's it like working with Bill? They asked me what's
it like working with Amy? But I really think people
appreciate an honest answer. All right, I can't be that honest.

(24:42):
All right. Next question, Hey, handle, this is Terry and
Apple Valley. What did you get fired from Universal Studios?

Speaker 6 (24:49):
For?

Speaker 1 (24:50):
Oh? Specifically because there were a whole series of incidents.
But the that I remember, and this is, uh, if
I used to say things well, not that I don't
say things now, but uh, there was a group of
people that came in and when I was a tour
guid at Universal would talk about how movies were made

(25:15):
and when you uh the when, for example, you see
a ceiling right the way technically the way it works
because there's lights coming in from the top, so you
would only see a little part of the ceiling in
the shot, just a corner, but your mind would assume
it goes across the entire ceiling, and that your mind does.
And then I said, uh, so everybody put their hands

(25:38):
open fisted, put their hands over their eyes, and you'll
see what I'm talking about. And so everybody does, and
I go, yeah, look, you look like a bunch of
dumb India and that are going It was an Indian
tribe that was there that I was speaking in front of.
That was that was tough. I didn't know. I didn't
do that on purpose. Didn't do it on purpose. And

(26:00):
then I don't know if I got fired for that one.
There was another one, an incident when I was in
a sound stage with Robin was his name, I'll never forget,
a very very funny, funny guy. And during the summer,
they would take two trams with two tour guides and
we'd be crammed together and we would alternate. We'd go
from set to set and do our talking, our little lecturing.

(26:25):
And there was a guy, and there was one hundred
people in the room. There was a guy who went
into a grand mall seizure right in front of us
and went and he was flopping like a fish. It
was not pleasant and grand mall seizure. And I'm talking
on the microphone and I looked down at him, I go,

(26:47):
stop that, that's rude. I got in trouble for that one.
That was tough. So you know, those are the two
incidents I forgot. I remember, but didn't last very long.
I didn't last at most jobs. All right, one more question.

Speaker 6 (27:03):
Are you as confident out in public and sarcastic as
you are on the radio?

Speaker 1 (27:08):
Yeah? Confident? I don't know about confident. I mean I
have no self esteem and the confidence is I think
somewhat of a wall. But am my ass in public? Yeah? Yeah, absolutely.
You know I don't have any secret agenda. Remember Russia Limba,
Russia Limba would be this bombastic guy, but in person

(27:30):
he was very quiet, he was very shy. So yeah,
I'm basically who I am. I think we do have
time for one more of Tony if we have one bill.

Speaker 7 (27:40):
This is Dan from Las Vegas kind of question. Did
you ever while on the air, have like an emergency
number two sneak up on you a little loose movement?
And did you have to leave there immediately? And if
you did, did you come back and make an excuse?
What were you honest about it?

Speaker 1 (27:58):
Probably two times a week that happens. There have been
any incidents where I left and I was late and
they'd make fun of me, and I would I wouldn't
say in the bathroom, but I would say I had
an emergency meeting down the hall that I had to attend. Yeah, Amy,

(28:19):
how many times have I come back and said I
had to pee? Several? Yeah? I do it all the time.
And then when I just come back. You know, now, moving.

Speaker 3 (28:28):
Forward, we should just assume, yeah, just that you're you're
pulling a Shaquille O'Neil.

Speaker 7 (28:32):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
Yeah, Oh I haven't heard that. Okay, you haven't.

Speaker 3 (28:36):
Did you see that? No you didn't see that. No,
Shaquille O'Neal. It was happening. Earlier this week he was
on the set on a show they were live TV,
and he had to go. He was like, when I
got to go, you gotta go, And they're like, dude,
we're on live TV. He goes, I know I'll be back.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
See that you could do that when you're Shaquille O'Neil. Yeah,
for sure. You know what, let's see if we need
a short one. And I'm having a great time with this. Okay,
go ahead, Tony.

Speaker 6 (28:57):
Good morning Bill. My question is in regard it's to
your daughters and the mental health that you deal with
in your family. You've been very open about it, and
I'm just curious if your daughters mind you talking about
that and about them so openly.

Speaker 1 (29:13):
Yes, they mind, They mind a lot. Matter of fact,
last night I had dinner with Barbara and she was
complaining about exactly that, and I was fairly gracious about it.
I said, too bad, that's the cost of doing business.
Welcome to the family of the radio family. All right,

(29:36):
we're done, guys. Tomorrow morning, it's a Handle on the
Law from eight to eleven o'clock and then Rich Demrrow
comes with the Tech Show. I'm assuming Neil will be
back tomorrow, maybe not with the Food Show, the Fork Report,
and that's from two o'clock to five, and then we're
back again Monday. Amy picks it up on Monday from

(29:57):
five to six o'clock wake up call, Neil and I
jump on from six to nine, and of course is
always here. Tony is in for Cono and I have
no idea if ConA is going to be back. That's it.
We're done. You've been listening to The Bill Handle Show.
Catch My Show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app