February 4, 2026 • 26 mins
(February 04, 2026)
Tax billionaires, cut rents and other takeaways from California’s first gubernatorial debate. How big is the U.S. housing shortage? Estimates range from zero to 40 million homes. Olympic ceasefire calls lay bare the scale of global conflict. From ‘Hamilton’ to Issa Rae to Philip Glass: Here’s a list of Kennedy Center cancellations.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I am six forty Bill Handle here, Good morning on
Aday Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
A couple of things I want to share with you.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
First, CNN is reporting right now that Nancy Guthrie's pacemaker,
Savannah Guthrie's mom, who disappeared, that her pace pacemaker last
said sent a signal to the iPhone at two am
on Sunday, and that doesn't bode well at all.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
So there's that.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Also, want to remind you that if you miss any
of our segments, for example, we had to kind of
fund this morning. I don't know how many people I
offended this morning lots, you can always listen to the
podcast because we podcast the entire show, and so just
well there's that, and then there's a rest of For example,
Jim Keeney is coming aboard at AY thirty, and if
(00:58):
you don't have the chance to listen into it, you
can podcast it.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Last night there was the first gubernatorial debate here in California,
and I didn't watch it, and I have to admit
I didn't watch it. I was watching an episode of
Swamp People and their Siblings Unusual Families but I'll tell
(01:22):
you who did watch it was Amy, So Amy, I'm
gonna basically interview you because you are pardoned. No, no,
as you This were the six Democrats, one Republican and
the the landscape. I mean it's wide open as to
(01:43):
the primaries. Any breakouts in your opinion of the ones you.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Saw, not really?
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I think, you know, I know that everybody's trying to
have their moment. I don't know that anybody really did.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
I mean Steve Hilton.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Actually they did like a flash pole and I was like,
who's watching this? They did a flash pole afterward and
they were saying, you know who did the best in
the debate, who did the best on the immigration issues?
And Hilton killed it. He was like at seventy sixty
five to seventy percent for most of them.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Who describe who Steve Hilton is, because a lot of
these is nobody knows.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
So he's a former Fox commentator, he's a businessman, and
he's the Republican who was on stage. The other Republican
is Chad Bianco, Riverside County Sheriff, and he wasn't there.
He said he had scheduling issues. So Hilton was the
only one on stage. He got booed a couple of
times in the audience by one very loud man. There
(02:43):
was a spattering of applause here and there. It was
kind of an interesting little debate. But the new guy
who just entered the race, San Jose's mayor Mayhem, he
actually was kind of interesting and I think for a
lot of people it might have been the first time
that they had seen him because he's just so new
(03:03):
to the race. So I think he did well for himself.
Via Rigosa was there. He was typical via Ragosa.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Yeah, also via Resa a million pothole and there.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Yeah, and then there was another guy, Thurman. See, this
is how much.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I watched it. But I mean that's against some of these.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah, the candidates are not very well known. And the
one guy I've been like, I hadn't even heard his
name before.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Oh yeah, and you watched this thing.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
And you, because you're a newsperson, not only has to
keep up with this, but you do keep up with this. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Javier Abasera was up there. He didn't really Again, none
of them really said anything great. They did ask them
questions about like they did like a quick fire round,
and they said if you're elected, will you do the
high speed rail? And about half of them said yes,
and about half of them said no.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I think the fun part of this story is the
amount of money that they each have in their award chest.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Stire who is a billions Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Tom Steyer was there to well, let.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Me tell you, okay, yeah, of course, okay, Porter, she
raised six point one million. Hilton as you said, he
was at five point seven million. This is the war chest.
But Sarah has five point two million, and Bianco three
point seven million, via Ragosa three point two million, So
not a lot of money. Now, the one who has
the most is is a.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Stire and he's self funded.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
He's just twenty eight.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yeah, he has twenty eight point nine million dollars in contributions,
of which twenty seven million, nine hundred and ninety nine
dollars and ninety nine cents he put in and the
rest of it were contributions that he was able to
raise in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
He even had ads running during the debate.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
And he's not going to win. Why because California.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
California has a history of resenting people who are trying
to buy the gubernatorial race.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Also, the mayor's race.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Paul Caruso put in millions and millions of dollars into
the mayor's race. Karen Bass put in almost nothing, and
yet she won. Member Meg Whitman, who was one of
the founders of eBay, she spent one hundred million dollars
Goodbye Huffington spent a huge amount of money.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
No chance gone.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
And so people put in so much money, So I
think it's it's a detriment to put in much money,
that much money. Although in New York Michael Bloomberg he
bought his race and became mayor.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
So we'll see what happens on this. And the story
here is that that there.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Is no front runner. And according to Amy who actually
watched this, although that's swamp people and their siblings, unusual families,
they still there are very few people watch it. I
would love to see how many viewers they actually had
that debate have. And well, it's gonna get really interesting. Okay,
(06:17):
here's a question, and how big is the US housing shortage?
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Now we know there's two things.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
There aren't enough houses out there for the most part,
and they're way too expensive. A lot of it being
they're way too expensive because they're just way too expensive
to build. Also, since there is a shortage, that brings
prices up. So here is and this is such a
wonky topic because there are so many answers, I'm gonna
try to unwonk it. We do know that the US
(06:47):
is facing a serious housing shortage. Maybe okay, Moodies estimates
that it would take more than two million new homes
to resolve. At Goldman Sachs, their analysts put the number
at three million homes.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Zillow tops four.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Million homes to resolve the shortage. Congressional Republicans they're saying
it's closer to twenty million homes. So why Well these projections, well,
they reflect the challenge of even quantifying the housing needs
(07:27):
in this country, and it rests on a lot of assumptions.
How much should a house cost, how many people should
it hold, how big a footprint should it have, And
keep in mind, housing affordability is a crucial political issue,
and I think the midterm is going to show that
and housing is also increasingly out of the reach of
(07:47):
so many Americans. Bottom line, if you don't have a
house to sell, I think you're in a very hard
time buying a house because of down payment because they're
so expensive around here here in Burbank.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
You look out that I've said this many times. You
look out the window.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
You have these little cracker jack boxes of homes ony
eleven hundred square feet to three bedroom, one bath a
million dollars, which means you get to put down two
hundred thousand dollars after tax dollars down payment, and then
an eight hundred thousand dollars mortgage. Hey mazel tov, Well,
it's out of the reach of so many people. So
(08:22):
determining the nation's need is very key to devising policies
that are going to solve the pro the problem.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Okay, a couple of stats.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
According to the Census Bureau data, the US has one
hundred and forty six million homes.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Of those, eight point one million are.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Doubled up households, which really screws up the figure big time,
people sharing space with non relatives and Zillo their housing
estimates assumes that most of these people would prefer having
their own place, of course they would, and there are
three point four million vacant homes of available right now
(09:01):
to rent or buy according to Zillow.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Which has some pretty good figures. So here's what Zillo did.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Let me tell you how sophisticated Zillo economists subtracted the
number of available houses from the number of doubled up households,
and they came up with the country needs four point
seven million more homes. Okay, then you have an analysis
that zero is in on two questions, how many homes
should be vacant and how many consumers have delayed or
(09:31):
are out of luck because of the cost. Now here's
one that I found fascinating. That a healthy housing market
needs vacancies. Why because an empty property could signal it's
between tenants or buyers, that it's in the system or
(09:51):
under renovation, or it could be that the owner is
splitting time between two properties. Rich people right who have
a a couple of different homes. Well, the Association of
Home Builders says that six million homes about one in
twenty are secondary residents. And what constitutes a healthy level
(10:12):
of vacancies that's even harder to define. Maybe three percent
up to thirteen percent the original home number. The optimal
home number could be as simple as one home for
every household plus a certain number of vacancies. But is
that real housing costs prohibitive adult children. Here is a
(10:33):
stat It brings it really into perspective. Adult children tend
to reside with their parents longer. I mean, we know
that fair enough. Eighteen percent currently of adults twenty five
to thirty four were living in their parents' homes.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Eighteen percent are now living with their parents. This is
from twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
If you go back to the seventies, eight percent lived
with their parents. If that gives you an idea, and well,
I moved back to my folks house.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I was. I had.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Just reasonably finished law school, so I was out there
practicing law. I'm making a pretty good living, and I
had broken up with my girlfriend that i'd been with
for nine years. We had a home together, ended up
selling it, and I didn't know where to go. So
I moved in with my parents. To me, it was logical,
and I started dating and I would introduce myself. I go, Hi,
(11:40):
my name is Bill, I'm a lawyer, I'm reasonably successful,
and I live with my mom and dad. Now let
me tell you how I did that year in the
sex department.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Not well.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
I had a hard time meeting people. But I was
one of the very few people that lived with their
parents in the seventies and now eighteen percent live with
their parents. So the bottom line is that all the
researchers are coming up with many different answers for the
(12:14):
housing shortage. So when you hear the phrase there is
a housing shortage in the United States, keep in mind
that virtually every single analyst of housing shortage, every single
organization that looks at this, has different figures. All it
really matters is can you afford a house? Are you
(12:36):
living in a house? Where are you going to live?
And a lot of people simply if they have to
live and own a house, they're not doing it in
southern California.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
That's for sure.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Okay, Winter Olympics set to begin in Italy this week,
and the United Nations has called for a fifty two
day pause on all wars. Now that's kind of a
weird one, isn't it. Fifty two days? Well, let me
tell you why. There is a centuries old tradition, I
mean millennia old tradition that ensures safe passage of athletes
(13:12):
and officials who go to the games. And and Lisa Bayerbach,
President of the eightieth Session of the UN General Assembly,
Because this happens in the General Assembly, I call upon
all warring parties of current armed conflicts around the world
to boldly agree to true mutual ceasefires for the duration
(13:35):
of the Games, this Olympic Truce. So where did an
Olympic truce come about? You go to ancient Greece, where
the Olympics actually began. And the idea of this Olympic truce,
or Ikechadia is what it's called. Ekechadia goes back to
ancient Greece, as I said, when three warring kings signed
(13:59):
a tree allowing the safe passage of athletes and spectators
from their cities to the Olympic Games.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
And by the way, the truce is documented.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
To go back to ancient sources and it has endured
with varying degrees levels of observance. It was revived in
the nineteen nineties during the Bosnian War. And so the
reason it was is fifty two is because it goes
one day before the Olympics and the Paralympics and one
(14:32):
day after. That's where the magic number fifty two comes from.
And every two years, the UN General Assembly now adopts
the Olympic Truce resolution ahead of the Games. In two
thousand and one on the heels of September eleventh attacks,
the US, which was hosting the Winter Olympics and twenty
and two thousand and two introduced a resolution that called
(14:55):
for there will be no Olympic truce, and that was
base on what was happening with Afghanistan being attacked, etc.
And then more stats that are coming out at this
point dealing with the truths and wars. The UN figures
that a quarter of a million people died in conflict
(15:17):
related violence last year. This according to the Armed Conflict
Location and Events Data and as part of the UN,
and fighting has continued still going on in Gaza, Sudan,
Ukraine and all over the world. One point two million
soldiers Russian shouldiers have been killed, wounded or gone missing.
Ukraine six hundred thousand total losses. So how are these
(15:41):
warring nations sending athletes?
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Aren't they involved? Yeah, they do. The Ukraine is sending
forty six athletes.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Russia after the invasion of Ukraine is not allowed in
the games. So how about Russian athletes, Well, they're sort
of allowed. So by the way, there is a truce
that began on Friday the Milan Courtina Olympic truce. No
(16:11):
party in any conflict has plans to observe it. By
the way, so more than thirty five hundred athletes from
ninety three countries are going to compete this year for
the Winter Olympics Italy, which well some of these athletes
(16:32):
and they're representing countries that are just in the middle
of these huge political violence, internal problems at civil war
Haiti sending two athletes, Guinea Bissau wherever they owe that is,
is sending one athlete, and that was following a coup
in November. Matta Gascar also had a coup, is sending
two athletes, and in the days leading up to the
(16:55):
first day of this Olympic truce would be Olympic truce,
Rush launches. It strikes on Ukraine's energy sector. I mean,
just to the point where Ukraine is reeling. There's very
little power in Ukraine. So what the IOC has done
is banned Russia's Olympic committee for participating in team sports
(17:16):
following what happened in Ukraine. So Russian athletes, and keep
in mind, these athletes have been training a lifetime for this.
Olympic Athletes don't just show up and have a good time.
They're not just fun purveyors of athletic competition.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
They're not. Now, this is not weekend stuff. I mean
this is full time for a lifetime.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
So Russian athletes who want to compete can do it
as individual neutral athletes. Thirteen of these neutral Russian athletes
are competing this year. They can't participate in the opening ceremonies,
they can't wear or display their team colors or flag.
(18:01):
And if a Russian athlete, a neutral individual neutral athlete,
wins the gold medal, then the music that's played is
the IOC Commission music, and it's the International Olympic flag,
you know, with the five circle, different colors than is
put up the flag stand, and any metal won by
(18:25):
a Russian athlete will not be included in the official tally.
And my favorite sport we'll be talking about a lot
about that, of course, is curling, and of course everybody
knows what curling is, and that is the stone that
with a handle on it, that is it's a lot
like bache.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
The stone gets it's.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Not thrown, but it is moved down the ice and
you want to get to the closest possible center part
of the target red circle and you know, they bounce
off each other, et cetera. And the way that it's
moved faster or slower is a bunch of guys with
brooms that are sweeping the ice in front of the stone.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
I mean, look up.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Curling, and I wonder why brooms, well, because they can
make the ice melt faster in front, because with the
friction of the brooms on the ice, the ice can
actually be softer and melt and be more slippery. And
now those guys who are practicing curling, they are not
(19:36):
only they not only practice the curling, but they also
work full time because they're janitors. And that's a big,
big advantage.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
All right.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Hey, I was just thinking, I'm making my ham and cheese,
which I do, and I've been come July, it'll be
thirty three years that I have been doing this show,
and thirty four years and then broadcasting here at kfive
since nineteen eighty nine, and I have never asked this
question which I'm about to ask. And this is for
(20:10):
you guys here in studio, and it's a metaphysical question,
and I understand it gets pretty deep sometimes, but I'm
going to bring it to the table. Usually we don't
go deep on this show. But I want to ask
this question. When you make a sandwich, which I do,
would you rather cut it on the diagonal or down
(20:33):
the middle?
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Amy? Your diagonal?
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Definitely diagonal?
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Huh cono diagonal down the middle? Okay? All right.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
And Lindsay, who is sitting here, just came in to
do some work. She is a diagonal person and diagonal
or down the middle.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
She has no idea what I'm talking. No diagonal. Oh
you're diagonal. So we have two diagonals. I'm down the middle, okay,
and Will diagonal are down the middle? Is not there? No.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Will is practicing his impression of Helen Keller for his
next stage appearance and doing a brilliant job, I might add,
And I am a down the middle person.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
We have now answered that question. And if anybody is
listening to the show for the first time, this will
be the last time you listen to this show. And
I clearly understand that the entertainment value of all that. Okay,
talking about entertainment. The Kennedy Center, which everybody still calls
(21:42):
the Kennedy Center. I don't know anybody who calls it
the Donald J. Trump Kennedy Center for performing arts like
give me a break. It's like the Department of Wars,
the Department of Defense, and it's the Gulf of Mexico.
Leave me alone. In any case, the number of people
who have canceled performances since Trump took over as chairman.
(22:03):
And I'm looking at the calendar of performances and half
of the performances that have been booked for February and March,
or half of the dates have been eliminated. The ones
that are still there, they figure half the audiences will
be gone. And why is that, Well, because of of course,
(22:26):
the politics of what's happening.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
So what President Trump has said.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
And two you have to give him not credit, but
you have to give him some veracity here, and that
is he has said for years that the Kennedy Center
is dilapidated and he's renovating, and I have not heard
a refutation of that. And so what he is doing
is he is effectively tearing down the Kennedy Center. Well, well,
(22:51):
not even the facade is going to stay the same.
The steel beams that hold up the structure, that are
the structure are going to be utilized, and that now
the rest of it is not. Now can you imagine
what it's going to look like. Look at mar A Lago,
Look at the end to pictures of the interior of
the Trump residents. Look what he did to the White
(23:15):
House with all the gold and Guilt Guild that's all
over the White House. And now we have the Kennedy
Center that is going to be completely renovated.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
And it's going to be ready in two years. Now.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
The question is is it because he simply wants to
make it in his own image, which I think is
part of it. Is he reacting to the complete collapse
of the artists that are there, and I mean Hamilton
canceled and it was going to be there to celebrate
(23:49):
two hundred and fifty years Philip Glass, So as a
renowned composer, he had written a symphony because the celebrate
actually his celebration.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
This was kind of interesting.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
It's to honor Lincoln's Lysium Address of eighteen thirty eight
that put Lincoln on the national stage. Washington National Opera
gone after seventy years. And the names I could throw
out at you, some you know, some of you don't.
With the Martha Graham Dance Company, Chow Baby, it's gone,
(24:25):
and the list just goes on and on and on, and.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
You know, the politics are paramount here.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
So is the reason that it's being completely redone because
of the reaction, and Trump is deflecting simply by closing
it down. Is it because it truly is the lapidated?
Is it a combination of the two? I don't know,
but I guarantee you since it is the President that
(24:55):
is creating a new center, I can't even imagine what
it's going to look like. As you know what he
did early on in his term. Is he actually just
a few months ago, is he fired everybody that was
on the board of the directors of the center. It's
a nonprofit, put himself and it's funded to some extent
(25:17):
for the federal money, and it's a quasi independent facility.
So the President fired everybody who was on the board,
put in his own hand pick board, put in his
own president of the Kennedy Center, and named himself chairman.
And in a unanimous vote, the members of the board
(25:38):
voted to put his name on the Kennedy Center. And
as he said, I had no idea it was happening.
I am honored to have that happening. You know, for example,
you have the Nobel Prize, which he desperately wanted. And
the recipient is the Venezuelan opposition leader Mashada or Mashato,
(26:02):
and she gave him her Nobel Peace Prize, gave him
the plaque, et cetera. And as he said, I am
honored to receive the Nobel Prize.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
What do you do with that? Okay? This is KFI
AM six forty. You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Catch my show Monday through Friday, six am 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 (00:09):
I am six forty Bill Handle here, Good morning on
Aday Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
A couple of things I want to share with you.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
First, CNN is reporting right now that Nancy Guthrie's pacemaker,
Savannah Guthrie's mom, who disappeared, that her pace pacemaker last
said sent a signal to the iPhone at two am
on Sunday, and that doesn't bode well at all.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
So there's that.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Also, want to remind you that if you miss any
of our segments, for example, we had to kind of
fund this morning. I don't know how many people I
offended this morning lots, you can always listen to the
podcast because we podcast the entire show, and so just
well there's that, and then there's a rest of For example,
Jim Keeney is coming aboard at AY thirty, and if
(00:58):
you don't have the chance to listen into it, you
can podcast it.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Last night there was the first gubernatorial debate here in California,
and I didn't watch it, and I have to admit
I didn't watch it. I was watching an episode of
Swamp People and their Siblings Unusual Families but I'll tell
(01:22):
you who did watch it was Amy, So Amy, I'm
gonna basically interview you because you are pardoned. No, no,
as you This were the six Democrats, one Republican and
the the landscape. I mean it's wide open as to
(01:43):
the primaries. Any breakouts in your opinion of the ones you.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Saw, not really?
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I think, you know, I know that everybody's trying to
have their moment. I don't know that anybody really did.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
I mean Steve Hilton.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Actually they did like a flash pole and I was like,
who's watching this? They did a flash pole afterward and
they were saying, you know who did the best in
the debate, who did the best on the immigration issues?
And Hilton killed it. He was like at seventy sixty
five to seventy percent for most of them.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Who describe who Steve Hilton is, because a lot of
these is nobody knows.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
So he's a former Fox commentator, he's a businessman, and
he's the Republican who was on stage. The other Republican
is Chad Bianco, Riverside County Sheriff, and he wasn't there.
He said he had scheduling issues. So Hilton was the
only one on stage. He got booed a couple of
times in the audience by one very loud man. There
(02:43):
was a spattering of applause here and there. It was
kind of an interesting little debate. But the new guy
who just entered the race, San Jose's mayor Mayhem, he
actually was kind of interesting and I think for a
lot of people it might have been the first time
that they had seen him because he's just so new
(03:03):
to the race. So I think he did well for himself.
Via Rigosa was there. He was typical via Ragosa.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Yeah, also via Resa a million pothole and there.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Yeah, and then there was another guy, Thurman. See, this
is how much.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I watched it. But I mean that's against some of these.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah, the candidates are not very well known. And the
one guy I've been like, I hadn't even heard his
name before.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Oh yeah, and you watched this thing.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
And you, because you're a newsperson, not only has to
keep up with this, but you do keep up with this. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Javier Abasera was up there. He didn't really Again, none
of them really said anything great. They did ask them
questions about like they did like a quick fire round,
and they said if you're elected, will you do the
high speed rail? And about half of them said yes,
and about half of them said no.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I think the fun part of this story is the
amount of money that they each have in their award chest.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Stire who is a billions Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Tom Steyer was there to well, let.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Me tell you, okay, yeah, of course, okay, Porter, she
raised six point one million. Hilton as you said, he
was at five point seven million. This is the war chest.
But Sarah has five point two million, and Bianco three
point seven million, via Ragosa three point two million, So
not a lot of money. Now, the one who has
the most is is a.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Stire and he's self funded.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
He's just twenty eight.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yeah, he has twenty eight point nine million dollars in contributions,
of which twenty seven million, nine hundred and ninety nine
dollars and ninety nine cents he put in and the
rest of it were contributions that he was able to
raise in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
He even had ads running during the debate.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
And he's not going to win. Why because California.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
California has a history of resenting people who are trying
to buy the gubernatorial race.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Also, the mayor's race.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Paul Caruso put in millions and millions of dollars into
the mayor's race. Karen Bass put in almost nothing, and
yet she won. Member Meg Whitman, who was one of
the founders of eBay, she spent one hundred million dollars
Goodbye Huffington spent a huge amount of money.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
No chance gone.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
And so people put in so much money, So I
think it's it's a detriment to put in much money,
that much money. Although in New York Michael Bloomberg he
bought his race and became mayor.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
So we'll see what happens on this. And the story
here is that that there.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Is no front runner. And according to Amy who actually
watched this, although that's swamp people and their siblings, unusual families,
they still there are very few people watch it. I
would love to see how many viewers they actually had
that debate have. And well, it's gonna get really interesting. Okay,
(06:17):
here's a question, and how big is the US housing shortage?
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Now we know there's two things.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
There aren't enough houses out there for the most part,
and they're way too expensive. A lot of it being
they're way too expensive because they're just way too expensive
to build. Also, since there is a shortage, that brings
prices up. So here is and this is such a
wonky topic because there are so many answers, I'm gonna
try to unwonk it. We do know that the US
(06:47):
is facing a serious housing shortage. Maybe okay, Moodies estimates
that it would take more than two million new homes
to resolve. At Goldman Sachs, their analysts put the number
at three million homes.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Zillow tops four.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Million homes to resolve the shortage. Congressional Republicans they're saying
it's closer to twenty million homes. So why Well these projections, well,
they reflect the challenge of even quantifying the housing needs
(07:27):
in this country, and it rests on a lot of assumptions.
How much should a house cost, how many people should
it hold, how big a footprint should it have, And
keep in mind, housing affordability is a crucial political issue,
and I think the midterm is going to show that
and housing is also increasingly out of the reach of
(07:47):
so many Americans. Bottom line, if you don't have a
house to sell, I think you're in a very hard
time buying a house because of down payment because they're
so expensive around here here in Burbank.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
You look out that I've said this many times. You
look out the window.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
You have these little cracker jack boxes of homes ony
eleven hundred square feet to three bedroom, one bath a
million dollars, which means you get to put down two
hundred thousand dollars after tax dollars down payment, and then
an eight hundred thousand dollars mortgage. Hey mazel tov, Well,
it's out of the reach of so many people. So
(08:22):
determining the nation's need is very key to devising policies
that are going to solve the pro the problem.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Okay, a couple of stats.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
According to the Census Bureau data, the US has one
hundred and forty six million homes.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Of those, eight point one million are.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Doubled up households, which really screws up the figure big time,
people sharing space with non relatives and Zillo their housing
estimates assumes that most of these people would prefer having
their own place, of course they would, and there are
three point four million vacant homes of available right now
(09:01):
to rent or buy according to Zillow.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Which has some pretty good figures. So here's what Zillo did.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Let me tell you how sophisticated Zillo economists subtracted the
number of available houses from the number of doubled up households,
and they came up with the country needs four point
seven million more homes. Okay, then you have an analysis
that zero is in on two questions, how many homes
should be vacant and how many consumers have delayed or
(09:31):
are out of luck because of the cost. Now here's
one that I found fascinating. That a healthy housing market
needs vacancies. Why because an empty property could signal it's
between tenants or buyers, that it's in the system or
(09:51):
under renovation, or it could be that the owner is
splitting time between two properties. Rich people right who have
a a couple of different homes. Well, the Association of
Home Builders says that six million homes about one in
twenty are secondary residents. And what constitutes a healthy level
(10:12):
of vacancies that's even harder to define. Maybe three percent
up to thirteen percent the original home number. The optimal
home number could be as simple as one home for
every household plus a certain number of vacancies. But is
that real housing costs prohibitive adult children. Here is a
(10:33):
stat It brings it really into perspective. Adult children tend
to reside with their parents longer. I mean, we know
that fair enough. Eighteen percent currently of adults twenty five
to thirty four were living in their parents' homes.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Eighteen percent are now living with their parents. This is
from twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
If you go back to the seventies, eight percent lived
with their parents. If that gives you an idea, and well,
I moved back to my folks house.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I was. I had.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Just reasonably finished law school, so I was out there
practicing law. I'm making a pretty good living, and I
had broken up with my girlfriend that i'd been with
for nine years. We had a home together, ended up
selling it, and I didn't know where to go. So
I moved in with my parents. To me, it was logical,
and I started dating and I would introduce myself. I go, Hi,
(11:40):
my name is Bill, I'm a lawyer, I'm reasonably successful,
and I live with my mom and dad. Now let
me tell you how I did that year in the
sex department.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Not well.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
I had a hard time meeting people. But I was
one of the very few people that lived with their
parents in the seventies and now eighteen percent live with
their parents. So the bottom line is that all the
researchers are coming up with many different answers for the
(12:14):
housing shortage. So when you hear the phrase there is
a housing shortage in the United States, keep in mind
that virtually every single analyst of housing shortage, every single
organization that looks at this, has different figures. All it
really matters is can you afford a house? Are you
(12:36):
living in a house? Where are you going to live?
And a lot of people simply if they have to
live and own a house, they're not doing it in
southern California.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
That's for sure.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Okay, Winter Olympics set to begin in Italy this week,
and the United Nations has called for a fifty two
day pause on all wars. Now that's kind of a
weird one, isn't it. Fifty two days? Well, let me
tell you why. There is a centuries old tradition, I
mean millennia old tradition that ensures safe passage of athletes
(13:12):
and officials who go to the games. And and Lisa Bayerbach,
President of the eightieth Session of the UN General Assembly,
Because this happens in the General Assembly, I call upon
all warring parties of current armed conflicts around the world
to boldly agree to true mutual ceasefires for the duration
(13:35):
of the Games, this Olympic Truce. So where did an
Olympic truce come about? You go to ancient Greece, where
the Olympics actually began. And the idea of this Olympic truce,
or Ikechadia is what it's called. Ekechadia goes back to
ancient Greece, as I said, when three warring kings signed
(13:59):
a tree allowing the safe passage of athletes and spectators
from their cities to the Olympic Games.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
And by the way, the truce is documented.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
To go back to ancient sources and it has endured
with varying degrees levels of observance. It was revived in
the nineteen nineties during the Bosnian War. And so the
reason it was is fifty two is because it goes
one day before the Olympics and the Paralympics and one
(14:32):
day after. That's where the magic number fifty two comes from.
And every two years, the UN General Assembly now adopts
the Olympic Truce resolution ahead of the Games. In two
thousand and one on the heels of September eleventh attacks,
the US, which was hosting the Winter Olympics and twenty
and two thousand and two introduced a resolution that called
(14:55):
for there will be no Olympic truce, and that was
base on what was happening with Afghanistan being attacked, etc.
And then more stats that are coming out at this
point dealing with the truths and wars. The UN figures
that a quarter of a million people died in conflict
(15:17):
related violence last year. This according to the Armed Conflict
Location and Events Data and as part of the UN,
and fighting has continued still going on in Gaza, Sudan,
Ukraine and all over the world. One point two million
soldiers Russian shouldiers have been killed, wounded or gone missing.
Ukraine six hundred thousand total losses. So how are these
(15:41):
warring nations sending athletes?
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Aren't they involved? Yeah, they do. The Ukraine is sending
forty six athletes.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Russia after the invasion of Ukraine is not allowed in
the games. So how about Russian athletes, Well, they're sort
of allowed. So by the way, there is a truce
that began on Friday the Milan Courtina Olympic truce. No
(16:11):
party in any conflict has plans to observe it. By
the way, so more than thirty five hundred athletes from
ninety three countries are going to compete this year for
the Winter Olympics Italy, which well some of these athletes
(16:32):
and they're representing countries that are just in the middle
of these huge political violence, internal problems at civil war
Haiti sending two athletes, Guinea Bissau wherever they owe that is,
is sending one athlete, and that was following a coup
in November. Matta Gascar also had a coup, is sending
two athletes, and in the days leading up to the
(16:55):
first day of this Olympic truce would be Olympic truce,
Rush launches. It strikes on Ukraine's energy sector. I mean,
just to the point where Ukraine is reeling. There's very
little power in Ukraine. So what the IOC has done
is banned Russia's Olympic committee for participating in team sports
(17:16):
following what happened in Ukraine. So Russian athletes, and keep
in mind, these athletes have been training a lifetime for this.
Olympic Athletes don't just show up and have a good time.
They're not just fun purveyors of athletic competition.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
They're not. Now, this is not weekend stuff. I mean
this is full time for a lifetime.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
So Russian athletes who want to compete can do it
as individual neutral athletes. Thirteen of these neutral Russian athletes
are competing this year. They can't participate in the opening ceremonies,
they can't wear or display their team colors or flag.
(18:01):
And if a Russian athlete, a neutral individual neutral athlete,
wins the gold medal, then the music that's played is
the IOC Commission music, and it's the International Olympic flag,
you know, with the five circle, different colors than is
put up the flag stand, and any metal won by
(18:25):
a Russian athlete will not be included in the official tally.
And my favorite sport we'll be talking about a lot
about that, of course, is curling, and of course everybody
knows what curling is, and that is the stone that
with a handle on it, that is it's a lot
like bache.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
The stone gets it's.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Not thrown, but it is moved down the ice and
you want to get to the closest possible center part
of the target red circle and you know, they bounce
off each other, et cetera. And the way that it's
moved faster or slower is a bunch of guys with
brooms that are sweeping the ice in front of the stone.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
I mean, look up.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Curling, and I wonder why brooms, well, because they can
make the ice melt faster in front, because with the
friction of the brooms on the ice, the ice can
actually be softer and melt and be more slippery. And
now those guys who are practicing curling, they are not
(19:36):
only they not only practice the curling, but they also
work full time because they're janitors. And that's a big,
big advantage.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
All right.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Hey, I was just thinking, I'm making my ham and cheese,
which I do, and I've been come July, it'll be
thirty three years that I have been doing this show,
and thirty four years and then broadcasting here at kfive
since nineteen eighty nine, and I have never asked this
question which I'm about to ask. And this is for
(20:10):
you guys here in studio, and it's a metaphysical question,
and I understand it gets pretty deep sometimes, but I'm
going to bring it to the table. Usually we don't
go deep on this show. But I want to ask
this question. When you make a sandwich, which I do,
would you rather cut it on the diagonal or down
(20:33):
the middle?
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Amy? Your diagonal?
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Definitely diagonal?
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Huh cono diagonal down the middle? Okay? All right.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
And Lindsay, who is sitting here, just came in to
do some work. She is a diagonal person and diagonal
or down the middle.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
She has no idea what I'm talking. No diagonal. Oh
you're diagonal. So we have two diagonals. I'm down the middle, okay,
and Will diagonal are down the middle? Is not there? No.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Will is practicing his impression of Helen Keller for his
next stage appearance and doing a brilliant job, I might add,
And I am a down the middle person.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
We have now answered that question. And if anybody is
listening to the show for the first time, this will
be the last time you listen to this show. And
I clearly understand that the entertainment value of all that. Okay,
talking about entertainment. The Kennedy Center, which everybody still calls
(21:42):
the Kennedy Center. I don't know anybody who calls it
the Donald J. Trump Kennedy Center for performing arts like
give me a break. It's like the Department of Wars,
the Department of Defense, and it's the Gulf of Mexico.
Leave me alone. In any case, the number of people
who have canceled performances since Trump took over as chairman.
(22:03):
And I'm looking at the calendar of performances and half
of the performances that have been booked for February and March,
or half of the dates have been eliminated. The ones
that are still there, they figure half the audiences will
be gone. And why is that, Well, because of of course,
(22:26):
the politics of what's happening.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
So what President Trump has said.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
And two you have to give him not credit, but
you have to give him some veracity here, and that
is he has said for years that the Kennedy Center
is dilapidated and he's renovating, and I have not heard
a refutation of that. And so what he is doing
is he is effectively tearing down the Kennedy Center. Well, well,
(22:51):
not even the facade is going to stay the same.
The steel beams that hold up the structure, that are
the structure are going to be utilized, and that now
the rest of it is not. Now can you imagine
what it's going to look like. Look at mar A Lago,
Look at the end to pictures of the interior of
the Trump residents. Look what he did to the White
(23:15):
House with all the gold and Guilt Guild that's all
over the White House. And now we have the Kennedy
Center that is going to be completely renovated.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
And it's going to be ready in two years. Now.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
The question is is it because he simply wants to
make it in his own image, which I think is
part of it. Is he reacting to the complete collapse
of the artists that are there, and I mean Hamilton
canceled and it was going to be there to celebrate
(23:49):
two hundred and fifty years Philip Glass, So as a
renowned composer, he had written a symphony because the celebrate
actually his celebration.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
This was kind of interesting.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
It's to honor Lincoln's Lysium Address of eighteen thirty eight
that put Lincoln on the national stage. Washington National Opera
gone after seventy years. And the names I could throw
out at you, some you know, some of you don't.
With the Martha Graham Dance Company, Chow Baby, it's gone,
(24:25):
and the list just goes on and on and on, and.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
You know, the politics are paramount here.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
So is the reason that it's being completely redone because
of the reaction, and Trump is deflecting simply by closing
it down. Is it because it truly is the lapidated?
Is it a combination of the two? I don't know,
but I guarantee you since it is the President that
(24:55):
is creating a new center, I can't even imagine what
it's going to look like. As you know what he
did early on in his term. Is he actually just
a few months ago, is he fired everybody that was
on the board of the directors of the center. It's
a nonprofit, put himself and it's funded to some extent
(25:17):
for the federal money, and it's a quasi independent facility.
So the President fired everybody who was on the board,
put in his own hand pick board, put in his
own president of the Kennedy Center, and named himself chairman.
And in a unanimous vote, the members of the board
(25:38):
voted to put his name on the Kennedy Center. And
as he said, I had no idea it was happening.
I am honored to have that happening. You know, for example,
you have the Nobel Prize, which he desperately wanted. And
the recipient is the Venezuelan opposition leader Mashada or Mashato,
(26:02):
and she gave him her Nobel Peace Prize, gave him
the plaque, et cetera. And as he said, I am
honored to receive the Nobel Prize.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
What do you do with that? Okay? This is KFI
AM six forty. You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Catch my show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
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