July 14, 2026 • 23 mins
(July 14, 2026)
States sue to block Paramount’s deal for Warner Bros. Economists and tech leaders warn AI could bring ‘large scale job displacement’ and other risks. The fierce competition to get married at California’s most popular public buildings. How $9.99 became the most compelling price in retail.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty AM.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Six forty Bill Handhold. Good morning. It is a Tuesday morning,
July fourteenth. The price of oil jumped ten percent yesterday
because the President, well, the United States in Iran are
sort of back to war. That ceasefire has sort of ceased,
and so we'll see what happens. And the President has said,
(00:36):
we will guard the strait of horror moves, and we
will charge twenty percent of the value basically anything going
through the strait to pay for the guardianship. Now there
is a lawsuit. I love talking about lawsuits. Well, because
I love talking about lawsuits. Twelve Democratic states, including California,
(00:57):
New York, and Washington, Blue states, have filed a lawsuit
to block Paramounts one hundred and eleven billion dollar acquisition
of Warner Brothers Discovery. This is one of the biggest
media deals in the history of media deals or any deal,
and the states are arguing that this deal would harm
movie theaters by damaging the competitive market for distributing films,
(01:21):
particularly those blockbusters that make a large portion of studio revenues.
And the lawsuit says that this deal would give this
combined company anti competitive power over the market for basic
cable TV channels like CNN plus movies. That goes on
and on. So what the States are doing is trying
(01:42):
to freeze the deal at least temporarily.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Until it's adjudicated.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
And the deal was scheduled to close in the third
quarter of this year. And if it doesn't close or
it's delayed, Paramount has agreed to pay Warner Brothers shareholders
six hundred and fifty million dollars for each order the
deal doesn't close.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
That's a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
So on Monday, that was yesterday, the States filed a
temporary restraining order asking the court to stop the acquisition.
In the filing, the States said that Paramount told California
it may close the deal as soon as July twenty two,
and the States requested a response from the court by
(02:29):
the end of the day July twenty one. And the
argument is that the merger would harm movie theaters, basic
cable distributors, and ultimately, and this is Rob Bonna, the
California Attorney General, and ultimately audiences on every sofa and
movie theater seat in the US. Paramount responds with the
(02:54):
lawsuit is wrong on both the facts.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
And the law. And this is I love this.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
We will continue to fight against any attempt to derail
a deal that strengthens competition, expands opportunity and positions that
the competitive that combined company is.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Going to have.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
So explain to me how a merger with two companies
increases competition. I don't quite get that. You know, for example,
as Google buying very Bing for example, and buying Boom
and Bang, so they buy Bing, Bang, Boom, all tiny
(03:39):
you know, Neill, stop shaking your head, all tiny little browsers,
and that increases competition. Who are we kidding? I don't
know how they do that? I really don't. The deal
is going to close. If it does, David Ellison, the
grand vizier of the new company, well, he owns Paramount,
(03:59):
he will controlled. The company will control two news networks,
CBS News and CNN, two major studios, Paramount and Warner Brothers.
Two subscription streaming services, Paramount and HBO Max. Now, the
Justice Department said it's not challenging the acquisition because it's
not likely to harm competition or American consumers. How is
(04:22):
that possible? How does a merger create more competition? A
merger consolidates. Well, do you have a major merger, The
first thing that happens is the top management instantly disappears
because it's going to be one of the companies that
has a top management, usually the company that acquires the
(04:45):
other company. And since you have two companies that are
basically doing and they are competitive with each other, now
combining them now makes it less competitive. Explain that one
to me. I don't get that now. I don't know
if this has anything to do with it. But David
Ellison and Larry Ellison, father and son, have a warm
(05:07):
relationship with the president. Paramount hosted a dinner honoring the
Trump White House in Washington this year. The dinner was
attended by David Ellison, Todd Blanche, the acting US Attorney General,
and was taking place while the Justice Department was still
reviewing the deal.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Conflict, of course not. There's no such thing.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
As conflict with this administration doesn't exist. So you've got
two guys that control a company that are close to
the president, and the Justice Department said, nah, you're fine,
no question about it.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
And there we go again.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Anybody close to the president or is on the president's
side gets free rein to do whatever, and any blue
company is nailed, just completely nailed, and stop.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Does it all? Right? Now? AI?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
We know how it's going to effect it sort of.
I mean everybody has a visceral reaction to AI. Our
jobs going to disappear. Particularly I have a personal story.
My daughter Pamela, who's working on her master's degree in
computer science, can't get a job because the job she
would have gone has disappeared.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
All of them because of AI.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
So more than two hundred economists, researchers, tech leaders got
together and said Number one, AI could transform, will transform
the economy for better and for worse, and fuel risks,
including large scale job displacement. That's the fear. The group said.
(06:49):
AI could become more powerful over a decade, which it will.
It's going to drive unprecedented economic transformation which it will bring.
Downsides which it will, but also opportunities such as major
gains and living standards which it will. So Standard University
(07:11):
professor and director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab said
we must act now to guide AI to complement humans
rather than simply imitate them, and to generate prosperity for
the many, not just the few. Yeah, my question is
how you plan on doing this. And this is Eric Binnjolfsen,
(07:37):
And not only is he one of the chief economists,
he is one of the economists that you can't possibly
spell his name. He is among the most prominent individuals
who signed the statement, which is titled we must act
now and try to understand how AI is going to
transform the economy and what the group is pushing for.
(08:00):
More guardrails incentives institutions to steer AI in a direction
that complements humans and benefits society.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
So those who signed the statement were.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Nobel Prize laureates, laureates, AI researchers, tech leaders from California
venture capital firms, companies Anthropic, Open, AI, Google, the Big Three,
and even they are saying we need some guardrails, while
at the same time saying and their activities are we
(08:35):
don't want guard rails. There's a lot of anxiety surrounding
the latest developments in technology. We don't even know what
AI is going to bring to the table, no idea
which jobs are going to be eliminated. Well, jobs that
for example, deal with research are going to disappear because
(08:56):
AI is going to do research much better. I asked
to write a letter of recommendation from someone I know,
and I said, you know, write it up. Tell me,
you know, give me a template, because you know who
you're applying or what you're applying, what job you're applying for.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
So give me an idea which you what you think
is going to work.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
And back came a letter of recommendation that I said
was pretty good. I'm telling you it's not bad. And
then I asked, was Ai involved in writing this? One
hundred percent? AI wrote the letter, and I'm thinking, you know, writers, now,
(09:44):
is AI going to create the motivation, the feelings, the
nuances of what a human being does or doesn't do well?
We don't know. It's getting closer and closer AI is learning.
One of the things I'm working on I've asked Neil
to do and we've done this once, create a segment
(10:05):
using my voice and it actually came up with a
pretty good job. And as I said, Will's job with
traffic that's going to disappear easily, where AI can look
at traffic patterns and amy with the news, where AI
she's sticking her tongue out, where AI is going to
(10:28):
produce the news and determine which news is more important
less important simply by looking at news outlets and.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Stories throughout the world.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Neil's job looking at food for example, Well, you know,
I think it's a little harder for AI, and probably
the toughest one is my job at this point. Why
because it's not easy to get a combination of fabulous analysis,
(11:01):
brilliant points, complete depravity, which you combine all of that,
and you know, I'd say, and how.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Do you get a machine to chew and spit while
they're talking?
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Well, that's tough, I'll tell you. Hold on.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
You can saying, for example, do a segment about Bill handle? Okay,
that that handle would do?
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Do you not.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Think the sound effects of chewing and spitting and crunching
and flying off on tangents can't be replicated.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
I could if I had a camel, I'd have the
camel chewing and then I would, okay, put it.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
In a But AI can do that. AI can do that.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
You know, I was reading last night Bill. There's an
entire restaurant. It looks about the size gosh, that the
size of a small not an RV per se. But anyways,
it's not that big. They have them in Germany now.
The entire restaurant, zero humans. The food is all prepped,
(12:16):
it is made, it is served, and the dishes washed.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
All in this box. Okay, get a controlled AI, all right.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
So the people that worked at that restaurant, or would
have worked at that restaurant, are history. That is one
of the issues with a I okay, getting married a
personal story too. I'm gonna share with you. Getting married
is really expensive. Getting married at venues is really expensive.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
So you know what's going on. Where do you think
people are getting married.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
They're getting married at county courthouses and public buildings, stairways
to these magnificent structures, a lot of them built during
the depression to keep people working, a lot of them
built in the eighteen hundreds or early twenties or early
of the teens of last century. And they are magnificent
(13:15):
municipal buildings, particularly Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Beverly Hills, really
popular and to give you an idea of how popular
they are, and this one kind of yeah, it's.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Really really interesting.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
One photographer who specializes in these courthouse weddings. I'm not
talking about the efficient I am talking about on the courthouse.
In front of the courthouse, the Pictures photographer who specialized
in this says, these venues book up so fast you
have to be online at the exact time you plan
(13:52):
on having your appointment. It's like trying to get tickets
to the Super Bowl or Taylor Swift concerts. Santa Barbara
is a Moorish revival Hall of Justice. That's the most
coveted civil marriage spot. This is where Kamala Harris and
Doug Imlov got married. This is where Courtney Kardationan Kardashian
got married. This is where Blink two drummer got married.
(14:16):
And the county supervisor who happens to be efficient for
the day. We see dozens of these people today starting
at eight o'clock in the morning, and you have to.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Book because they book instantly.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
As soon as they open up the booking computer. They
opened up the program, it fills up instantly, so you
know what ends up happening. Thousands of these weddings are
done per year, and they go through like an assembly line.
I mean, it is crazy. For example, probably the most
(14:53):
coveted one is San Francisco City Hall. This is where
Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio got married. Today that building
sees seven thousand marriage ceremonies a year, seven thousand a year.
So you have these couples lined up to have their
(15:15):
picture taken in front of the courthouse or on the steps.
I mean, that's the where it's going. And why is
this happening?
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Money? Money, You get dressed up, You don't have to
pay for a venue.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
You just do the courthouse and then the catering is
across the street at the Chick fil A, and by
you get a cheap wedding. How expensive are weddings? Average cost?
Thirty six thousand dollars?
Speaker 4 (15:42):
Now, Bill, My wife Tracy and I when we were
going to get married, we were just going to go
to the Hall of Justice or whatever and get married,
and our mothers kind of were disappointed, so we very
quickly just booked the little brown chapel on Cold Water.
No cameras, no flowers, no music, no nothing. They married
(16:03):
us there. I took them down the street to a
restaurant and paid for lunch for everybody. That was it
one yeah, yeah, and you were out of town, you
were in London. And we gave out shirts that said
I went to Neil and Tracy's wedding and all I
got was this crumy shirt.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Excellent cheap And isn't that where Ronald Reagan got married? Yeah,
and my wedding and I ended up doing the well,
the castle was not the wedding.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Wedding. I didn't know this.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
I got married in Italy and I didn't know this
and you probably don't know this, but in Italy there's
no such thing as a religious wedding, the most Catholic
country probably in the world. And the priest or, the
pastor or whoever, usually the priest who then officiates at
the wedding had no legal that has no legal ability
(16:54):
to be law. In other words, that was badly said,
but has it's not the find Legally you have to
get married civilly, and so Lindsey and I had to
get married civilly before the wedding. So we went to
We did it in I think uh Laguna, and we
went into.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
The office, the clerk's office.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
We got married in the office right there, and it
was just a cheap od, creep o city office, and
the clerk went ahead and married us and then said,
excuse me, I got some emails to read. Get out
and that was my official marriage.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
And then all weddings are civil I mean you have the.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Real No, not at all, not at all. No, you
can have religious weddings. Here a rabbi or priest officiating
signing off. That is a legal marriage. You don't need
the city, you need a city, you need a license
to get married. But the official wedding is the officiant,
is the priest, is the rabbi. That's the official document
(18:00):
in Italy. So what we did is, effectively we did
a Druid wedding, you know, dancing around a tree, holding
each other's hands and dancing.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Effectively what it was. Okay, we're done. Okay.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Thresholds are really important. This is studies that are done.
I like studies as supposed to anecdotal stories, and so
there have been a bunch of studies, and there is
a threshold. Psychologically, nine ninety nine. It's not ten dollars,
it's nine ninety nine a penny more. It's ten dollars.
(18:36):
You buy gas, and it's for eighty nine. It's actually
for eighty nine and ninety nine cents, but it's for
eighty nine.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
A penny more. I mean, who doesn't round up a penny?
We don't.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Psychologically, we don't how many things you see nine ninety nine,
nineteen ninety nine, forty nine ninety nine. The big one
is nine ninety nine, and that's the magic number. And
that has been a strategy long used by US retailers.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Why is that Well, because it works, that's why.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
And to keep prices under nine ninety nine or thirty
nine ninety nine when you look at higher fuel prices, tariffs,
everything driving up costs. Now you have companies that are
either cutting profits, which they do, and or redesigning packaging
(19:37):
or lowering the lowering the amount that is being produced
and consumed. Chris Cox, who is the chief executive Hasbro,
says nine ninety nine is the retail price point that
drives a lot of consumer behavior.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
And so Hasbro is redoubled efforts to meet that nine
ninety nine price point, and so so many companies are
ninety nine cents and psychologically, we just do it.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
That's all.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
There's a professor of marketing at Columbia Business School in
New York and he's done a study on this. Consumers
tend to categorize prices and to rage in ranges. Excuse me,
So having a price under ten dollars is different than
a price that is ten dollars one penny difference. Who
(20:38):
doesn't round up? We don't. The fact that psychologically we
figure that nine nine nine somehow is worth is a
different mindset. It is so much cheaper than something that's
ten dollars. I mean, scientists have looked at this, and
(21:01):
you know, it's just an interesting view of life.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Is what human beings do.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
The other day, I was buying something that was I
think ten oh one, and they give me a nickel
because pennies aren't gonna be used. I don't know how
that connects. I just thought i'd share that with you.
But look at everything you see on TV when you're
buying a product, when they're doing a commercial, when they
(21:27):
do an infomercial. Is there any such thing as a
set price ten bucks five dollars.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Nope, you don't see it.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
The other thing is five equal payments of forty nine
to ninety nine.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
That's two hundred and fifty bucks. Folks. You don't think
of that. What do you think of.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Well, the price is forty nine ninety nine. First of all,
it's under fifty dollars, and then equal payments over the
course of five months. Somehow, makes us buy more, and
you want to know something we buy more. It's psychologically
fascinating how that works.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Now, I am above the fray.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
I have the ability to look and determine that really
isn't the case.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Do you know what meany ninety nine cents stuff I buy?
Speaker 2 (22:23):
I cannot tell you how much stuff I buy that
ends in ninety nine cents. I dive right into that,
as most of us do.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Ninety nine cents.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
You know we should be KFI AM sixty and ninety nine.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Yeah, that would work for sure. All right, coming up
Tech Tuesday, Mike Debuski.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
This week, we'll be right back with that KFI AM sixty.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
You've been listening to The Bill Handle Show. Catch My
Show Monday through Friday at six am to
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Nine am, and any time on demand on the iHeartRadio
app
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty AM.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Six forty Bill Handhold. Good morning. It is a Tuesday morning,
July fourteenth. The price of oil jumped ten percent yesterday
because the President, well, the United States in Iran are
sort of back to war. That ceasefire has sort of ceased,
and so we'll see what happens. And the President has said,
(00:36):
we will guard the strait of horror moves, and we
will charge twenty percent of the value basically anything going
through the strait to pay for the guardianship. Now there
is a lawsuit. I love talking about lawsuits. Well, because
I love talking about lawsuits. Twelve Democratic states, including California,
(00:57):
New York, and Washington, Blue states, have filed a lawsuit
to block Paramounts one hundred and eleven billion dollar acquisition
of Warner Brothers Discovery. This is one of the biggest
media deals in the history of media deals or any deal,
and the states are arguing that this deal would harm
movie theaters by damaging the competitive market for distributing films,
(01:21):
particularly those blockbusters that make a large portion of studio revenues.
And the lawsuit says that this deal would give this
combined company anti competitive power over the market for basic
cable TV channels like CNN plus movies. That goes on
and on. So what the States are doing is trying
(01:42):
to freeze the deal at least temporarily.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Until it's adjudicated.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
And the deal was scheduled to close in the third
quarter of this year. And if it doesn't close or
it's delayed, Paramount has agreed to pay Warner Brothers shareholders
six hundred and fifty million dollars for each order the
deal doesn't close.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
That's a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
So on Monday, that was yesterday, the States filed a
temporary restraining order asking the court to stop the acquisition.
In the filing, the States said that Paramount told California
it may close the deal as soon as July twenty two,
and the States requested a response from the court by
(02:29):
the end of the day July twenty one. And the
argument is that the merger would harm movie theaters, basic
cable distributors, and ultimately, and this is Rob Bonna, the
California Attorney General, and ultimately audiences on every sofa and
movie theater seat in the US. Paramount responds with the
(02:54):
lawsuit is wrong on both the facts.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
And the law. And this is I love this.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
We will continue to fight against any attempt to derail
a deal that strengthens competition, expands opportunity and positions that
the competitive that combined company is.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Going to have.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
So explain to me how a merger with two companies
increases competition. I don't quite get that. You know, for example,
as Google buying very Bing for example, and buying Boom
and Bang, so they buy Bing, Bang, Boom, all tiny
(03:39):
you know, Neill, stop shaking your head, all tiny little browsers,
and that increases competition. Who are we kidding? I don't
know how they do that? I really don't. The deal
is going to close. If it does, David Ellison, the
grand vizier of the new company, well, he owns Paramount,
(03:59):
he will controlled. The company will control two news networks,
CBS News and CNN, two major studios, Paramount and Warner Brothers.
Two subscription streaming services, Paramount and HBO Max. Now, the
Justice Department said it's not challenging the acquisition because it's
not likely to harm competition or American consumers. How is
(04:22):
that possible? How does a merger create more competition? A
merger consolidates. Well, do you have a major merger, The
first thing that happens is the top management instantly disappears
because it's going to be one of the companies that
has a top management, usually the company that acquires the
(04:45):
other company. And since you have two companies that are
basically doing and they are competitive with each other, now
combining them now makes it less competitive. Explain that one
to me. I don't get that now. I don't know
if this has anything to do with it. But David
Ellison and Larry Ellison, father and son, have a warm
(05:07):
relationship with the president. Paramount hosted a dinner honoring the
Trump White House in Washington this year. The dinner was
attended by David Ellison, Todd Blanche, the acting US Attorney General,
and was taking place while the Justice Department was still
reviewing the deal.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Conflict, of course not. There's no such thing.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
As conflict with this administration doesn't exist. So you've got
two guys that control a company that are close to
the president, and the Justice Department said, nah, you're fine,
no question about it.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
And there we go again.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Anybody close to the president or is on the president's
side gets free rein to do whatever, and any blue
company is nailed, just completely nailed, and stop.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Does it all? Right? Now? AI?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
We know how it's going to effect it sort of.
I mean everybody has a visceral reaction to AI. Our
jobs going to disappear. Particularly I have a personal story.
My daughter Pamela, who's working on her master's degree in
computer science, can't get a job because the job she
would have gone has disappeared.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
All of them because of AI.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
So more than two hundred economists, researchers, tech leaders got
together and said Number one, AI could transform, will transform
the economy for better and for worse, and fuel risks,
including large scale job displacement. That's the fear. The group said.
(06:49):
AI could become more powerful over a decade, which it will.
It's going to drive unprecedented economic transformation which it will bring.
Downsides which it will, but also opportunities such as major
gains and living standards which it will. So Standard University
(07:11):
professor and director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab said
we must act now to guide AI to complement humans
rather than simply imitate them, and to generate prosperity for
the many, not just the few. Yeah, my question is
how you plan on doing this. And this is Eric Binnjolfsen,
(07:37):
And not only is he one of the chief economists,
he is one of the economists that you can't possibly
spell his name. He is among the most prominent individuals
who signed the statement, which is titled we must act
now and try to understand how AI is going to
transform the economy and what the group is pushing for.
(08:00):
More guardrails incentives institutions to steer AI in a direction
that complements humans and benefits society.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
So those who signed the statement were.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Nobel Prize laureates, laureates, AI researchers, tech leaders from California
venture capital firms, companies Anthropic, Open, AI, Google, the Big Three,
and even they are saying we need some guardrails, while
at the same time saying and their activities are we
(08:35):
don't want guard rails. There's a lot of anxiety surrounding
the latest developments in technology. We don't even know what
AI is going to bring to the table, no idea
which jobs are going to be eliminated. Well, jobs that
for example, deal with research are going to disappear because
(08:56):
AI is going to do research much better. I asked
to write a letter of recommendation from someone I know,
and I said, you know, write it up. Tell me,
you know, give me a template, because you know who
you're applying or what you're applying, what job you're applying for.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
So give me an idea which you what you think
is going to work.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
And back came a letter of recommendation that I said
was pretty good. I'm telling you it's not bad. And
then I asked, was Ai involved in writing this? One
hundred percent? AI wrote the letter, and I'm thinking, you know, writers, now,
(09:44):
is AI going to create the motivation, the feelings, the
nuances of what a human being does or doesn't do well?
We don't know. It's getting closer and closer AI is learning.
One of the things I'm working on I've asked Neil
to do and we've done this once, create a segment
(10:05):
using my voice and it actually came up with a
pretty good job. And as I said, Will's job with
traffic that's going to disappear easily, where AI can look
at traffic patterns and amy with the news, where AI
she's sticking her tongue out, where AI is going to
(10:28):
produce the news and determine which news is more important
less important simply by looking at news outlets and.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Stories throughout the world.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Neil's job looking at food for example, Well, you know,
I think it's a little harder for AI, and probably
the toughest one is my job at this point. Why
because it's not easy to get a combination of fabulous analysis,
(11:01):
brilliant points, complete depravity, which you combine all of that,
and you know, I'd say, and how.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Do you get a machine to chew and spit while
they're talking?
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Well, that's tough, I'll tell you. Hold on.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
You can saying, for example, do a segment about Bill handle? Okay,
that that handle would do?
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Do you not.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Think the sound effects of chewing and spitting and crunching
and flying off on tangents can't be replicated.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
I could if I had a camel, I'd have the
camel chewing and then I would, okay, put it.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
In a But AI can do that. AI can do that.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
You know, I was reading last night Bill. There's an
entire restaurant. It looks about the size gosh, that the
size of a small not an RV per se. But anyways,
it's not that big. They have them in Germany now.
The entire restaurant, zero humans. The food is all prepped,
(12:16):
it is made, it is served, and the dishes washed.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
All in this box. Okay, get a controlled AI, all right.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
So the people that worked at that restaurant, or would
have worked at that restaurant, are history. That is one
of the issues with a I okay, getting married a
personal story too. I'm gonna share with you. Getting married
is really expensive. Getting married at venues is really expensive.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
So you know what's going on. Where do you think
people are getting married.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
They're getting married at county courthouses and public buildings, stairways
to these magnificent structures, a lot of them built during
the depression to keep people working, a lot of them
built in the eighteen hundreds or early twenties or early
of the teens of last century. And they are magnificent
(13:15):
municipal buildings, particularly Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Beverly Hills, really
popular and to give you an idea of how popular
they are, and this one kind of yeah, it's.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Really really interesting.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
One photographer who specializes in these courthouse weddings. I'm not
talking about the efficient I am talking about on the courthouse.
In front of the courthouse, the Pictures photographer who specialized
in this says, these venues book up so fast you
have to be online at the exact time you plan
(13:52):
on having your appointment. It's like trying to get tickets
to the Super Bowl or Taylor Swift concerts. Santa Barbara
is a Moorish revival Hall of Justice. That's the most
coveted civil marriage spot. This is where Kamala Harris and
Doug Imlov got married. This is where Courtney Kardationan Kardashian
got married. This is where Blink two drummer got married.
(14:16):
And the county supervisor who happens to be efficient for
the day. We see dozens of these people today starting
at eight o'clock in the morning, and you have to.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Book because they book instantly.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
As soon as they open up the booking computer. They
opened up the program, it fills up instantly, so you
know what ends up happening. Thousands of these weddings are
done per year, and they go through like an assembly line.
I mean, it is crazy. For example, probably the most
(14:53):
coveted one is San Francisco City Hall. This is where
Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio got married. Today that building
sees seven thousand marriage ceremonies a year, seven thousand a year.
So you have these couples lined up to have their
(15:15):
picture taken in front of the courthouse or on the steps.
I mean, that's the where it's going. And why is
this happening?
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Money? Money, You get dressed up, You don't have to
pay for a venue.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
You just do the courthouse and then the catering is
across the street at the Chick fil A, and by
you get a cheap wedding. How expensive are weddings? Average cost?
Thirty six thousand dollars?
Speaker 4 (15:42):
Now, Bill, My wife Tracy and I when we were
going to get married, we were just going to go
to the Hall of Justice or whatever and get married,
and our mothers kind of were disappointed, so we very
quickly just booked the little brown chapel on Cold Water.
No cameras, no flowers, no music, no nothing. They married
(16:03):
us there. I took them down the street to a
restaurant and paid for lunch for everybody. That was it
one yeah, yeah, and you were out of town, you
were in London. And we gave out shirts that said
I went to Neil and Tracy's wedding and all I
got was this crumy shirt.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Excellent cheap And isn't that where Ronald Reagan got married? Yeah,
and my wedding and I ended up doing the well,
the castle was not the wedding.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Wedding. I didn't know this.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
I got married in Italy and I didn't know this
and you probably don't know this, but in Italy there's
no such thing as a religious wedding, the most Catholic
country probably in the world. And the priest or, the
pastor or whoever, usually the priest who then officiates at
the wedding had no legal that has no legal ability
(16:54):
to be law. In other words, that was badly said,
but has it's not the find Legally you have to
get married civilly, and so Lindsey and I had to
get married civilly before the wedding. So we went to
We did it in I think uh Laguna, and we
went into.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
The office, the clerk's office.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
We got married in the office right there, and it
was just a cheap od, creep o city office, and
the clerk went ahead and married us and then said,
excuse me, I got some emails to read. Get out
and that was my official marriage.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
And then all weddings are civil I mean you have the.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Real No, not at all, not at all. No, you
can have religious weddings. Here a rabbi or priest officiating
signing off. That is a legal marriage. You don't need
the city, you need a city, you need a license
to get married. But the official wedding is the officiant,
is the priest, is the rabbi. That's the official document
(18:00):
in Italy. So what we did is, effectively we did
a Druid wedding, you know, dancing around a tree, holding
each other's hands and dancing.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Effectively what it was. Okay, we're done. Okay.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Thresholds are really important. This is studies that are done.
I like studies as supposed to anecdotal stories, and so
there have been a bunch of studies, and there is
a threshold. Psychologically, nine ninety nine. It's not ten dollars,
it's nine ninety nine a penny more. It's ten dollars.
(18:36):
You buy gas, and it's for eighty nine. It's actually
for eighty nine and ninety nine cents, but it's for
eighty nine.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
A penny more. I mean, who doesn't round up a penny?
We don't.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Psychologically, we don't how many things you see nine ninety nine,
nineteen ninety nine, forty nine ninety nine. The big one
is nine ninety nine, and that's the magic number. And
that has been a strategy long used by US retailers.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Why is that Well, because it works, that's why.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
And to keep prices under nine ninety nine or thirty
nine ninety nine when you look at higher fuel prices, tariffs,
everything driving up costs. Now you have companies that are
either cutting profits, which they do, and or redesigning packaging
(19:37):
or lowering the lowering the amount that is being produced
and consumed. Chris Cox, who is the chief executive Hasbro,
says nine ninety nine is the retail price point that
drives a lot of consumer behavior.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
And so Hasbro is redoubled efforts to meet that nine
ninety nine price point, and so so many companies are
ninety nine cents and psychologically, we just do it.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
That's all.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
There's a professor of marketing at Columbia Business School in
New York and he's done a study on this. Consumers
tend to categorize prices and to rage in ranges. Excuse me,
So having a price under ten dollars is different than
a price that is ten dollars one penny difference. Who
(20:38):
doesn't round up? We don't. The fact that psychologically we
figure that nine nine nine somehow is worth is a
different mindset. It is so much cheaper than something that's
ten dollars. I mean, scientists have looked at this, and
(21:01):
you know, it's just an interesting view of life.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Is what human beings do.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
The other day, I was buying something that was I
think ten oh one, and they give me a nickel
because pennies aren't gonna be used. I don't know how
that connects. I just thought i'd share that with you.
But look at everything you see on TV when you're
buying a product, when they're doing a commercial, when they
(21:27):
do an infomercial. Is there any such thing as a
set price ten bucks five dollars.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Nope, you don't see it.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
The other thing is five equal payments of forty nine
to ninety nine.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
That's two hundred and fifty bucks. Folks. You don't think
of that. What do you think of.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Well, the price is forty nine ninety nine. First of all,
it's under fifty dollars, and then equal payments over the
course of five months. Somehow, makes us buy more, and
you want to know something we buy more. It's psychologically
fascinating how that works.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Now, I am above the fray.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
I have the ability to look and determine that really
isn't the case.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Do you know what meany ninety nine cents stuff I buy?
Speaker 2 (22:23):
I cannot tell you how much stuff I buy that
ends in ninety nine cents. I dive right into that,
as most of us do.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Ninety nine cents.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
You know we should be KFI AM sixty and ninety nine.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Yeah, that would work for sure. All right, coming up
Tech Tuesday, Mike Debuski.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
This week, we'll be right back with that KFI AM sixty.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
You've been listening to The Bill Handle Show. Catch My
Show Monday through Friday at six am to
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Nine am, and any time on demand on the iHeartRadio
app
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