August 4, 2025 • 25 mins
(August 04,2025)
‘Quishing’ scams dupe millions of Americans as hackers turn QR codes into traps. Las Vegas is down on its luck as tourism drops… why it’s kind of California’s fault. American consumers are getting thrifty again. How flying on a private jet became the #1 marker of real wealth.
‘Quishing’ scams dupe millions of Americans as hackers turn QR codes into traps. Las Vegas is down on its luck as tourism drops… why it’s kind of California’s fault. American consumers are getting thrifty again. How flying on a private jet became the #1 marker of real wealth.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM sixty.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Bill Handle Here, it is a Monday morning, miserable Monday morning.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
What did you say, Ammy? What were we gonna call this?
She's stuffing her face with a salad.
Speaker 4 (00:19):
Miserable, mondays, I think it.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Was miserable Monday.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
This is she eats salad in the morning, Neil, which
is why she looks the way she does, and we
look the way we do.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
I eat the animal that eats the salad normally. Ah, yeah,
so that eats the salad. I feel like I'm getting
my greens.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Right I And I eat the insect that eats the
animal that never mind, let's move on. Okay. Oh, by
the way, trending sheet, what's going on? President Trump is
going to announce a new Commissioner of the Bureau of
Labor Statistics over the next few days, and I can't
wait to see who that one's going to be. Now,
(01:03):
I didn't know what quishing was. I mean, I know
what a QR code is, of course we all do.
And they have become completely ubiquitous during the pandemic, for example,
and they were the default in restaurant menus, and today
three quarters restaurants, you look at the menu with a
QR code. Well, what happens is QR codes have become
(01:26):
increasingly targets for malicious use, and they're everywhere now, gas pumps,
yard signs, TV commercials. They're both useful and dangerous, and
we don't know about the dangerous part. That's simply not
something we think about. You know why, QR codes were
not meant to be secure devices. They were not thought
of in terms of security. They were just going to
(01:48):
make it easier for us, and they really didn't think
of how easy it is to compromise a QR code,
to the point where the FTC just issued a warning
about packages showing up with the QR code that wait
a sec, this is the wrong package. Here's a QR
code to return it. Guess what, that's not good stuff
(02:12):
because you you go ahead and you go on that
QR code and you snap on it. What is the
what does the verb that's used when you actually use
a QR code? You click on your scan camera? You
what you scan a QR code? You scan a QR code. Okay,
that helps, and I use QR codes. They didn't even
(02:34):
know that.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
And the reason cyber criminals love.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
This stuff is because it's so easy to slap a
fake QR code right onto a sticker with a parking
lot or utility bill. See, I didn't get I didn't
know that that you can. You can do this, Neil,
because not that you do do it sure or not,
But creating a fake QR code is the easiest thing
in the world for people that know what they're doing.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
And yeah, you can go to a website and do it.
It's easy.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
And then you print it out on you know, adhesive
back to paper and people don't think about and then
you put it over a menu and it's it's not
difficult at all. And if you're not thinking about it,
if you're just like you said, if you're thinking about
the ease of use, you're not thinking about the fact
(03:23):
that it may take you somewhere that you're not wanting
to go, you know.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Digitally.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yeah, I have a QR code to get into my gate,
thank goodness. Not working very well in my house. Uh
the way I get in I live in at gaty
come in in the way a lot of people do.
And to open and to open up the gate, I
either have my clicker or I have a sticker on
my car that's supposed to be read by the reader,
which it doesn't, so I can use my QR code.
(03:55):
And it never even occurred to me that that could
be fake, that someone could grab that. And I'll tell
you when I know it's fake is when one day
I get a statement from the recorder's office saying I
no longer own my house, that I've transferred my house
over to someone in Ukraine or someone in the eastern
(04:16):
part of Russia.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Well, sorry, mister Handel, somebody by the name of Stephen.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Kono, yes, owns your home.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Oh, and here's one before we go.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Okay, Apple and Android devices both are susceptible obviously to
QR codes. By the way, the changes now and there
are some companies that are looking at making smart QR codes,
but they have to have Microsoft and Apple buy into them,
because who manufactures the infrastructure on phones, et cetera. Why
(04:48):
are Apple phones iPhones more susceptible or people that have
iPhones more susceptible to QR code fakes? Scam, the uh.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
The quishing.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Why do you think that people that own iPhones are
more susceptible? Dud, dud, don't you do no they trust
iPhones more than Android users trust their their androids. People
who have androids are more are a little bit more
cognizant of what's going on or a little more hip
to what's going on. Your iPhone you trust completely. And
(05:26):
this is an iPhone process.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
Yeah, I get if you have Android.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
A lot of people that have Android are you know,
techies and like to fiddle with it and do stuff
and know that they don't filter their apps the same
way that Apple does.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
And I'm never gonna switch from an Apple phone ever,
and not because I love Apple phones. It's because if
you think I'm going to relearn how to use a phone,
I'll blow my brains out. First.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
We learn how to use your Apple phone every single day.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
I try.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
I don't relearn because that assumes that I've learned in
the first place.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
By the way qushing comes from, it's the term fishing,
which is social engineering so on phones back in the day,
and this is the same thing. They're just trying to
phish information out of you in a social setting.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Vegas tourism, Las Vegas is down and why is it down?
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Well, international tourists.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
According to the data from the Las Vegas Convention and
Visitors Authority.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
This is a big deal.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Visits to Las Vegas were down eleven percent in June
versus a year earlier.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
That's a big number.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Traffic on Interstate fifteen down a little over four percent.
It can't be enough if we were down forty percent
to be too much, But that's besides the point. A
number of air travels into Vegas declined six percent over
the previous June. Now, just to give you an idea
of how important Californians are, Southern Californians are to Vegas.
(07:02):
In twenty twenty four, Californians made up more than a
fifth of air travelers into Vegas twenty percent, nearly half
of them coming from the La Metro. Southern California provides
thirty percent of all the visitors to Las Vegas. I
mean that is a that it's an enormous number. So
(07:26):
it's going down.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Now.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Tourism, and I'm going to talk about tourism a little
bit later on. Tourism is only part of the picture.
Experts have already predicted based on the economy and where
it's going. And I'm going to give you an idea
why again next segment. Experts previously predicted slums in international tourism,
(07:49):
the Convention and Visitors Authority has to make twelve percent
of all the city's visitors are international. And so we're
going to lose twelve and a half billion dollars in
twenty twenty five that would have come in. And here
is what's going on, and politics, of course, they're being
thrown into this.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Julius Simpson, who is.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
The president of the World Travel and Tourism Council, and
she's the one that said twelve and a half billion
dollars international travel spending is going to go down. While
other nations are rolling out the welcome matt, the US
government is putting up the clothes sign. And to some
extent that's true. If you look at air traffic booking
(08:36):
from March, it showed a fifteen to twenty percent drop
and expected travel from major tourists sources that come into
this country from England, from Germany, from Canada, from Canada
and Mexico. Half of the tourists, the international tourists go
(08:58):
to Las Vegas.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
So why is it tanking so much?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
One because of the international economy and because of what's
going on politically, but also what's happening specifically as to countries.
For example, Presidents Trump's talk of making Canada the fifty
first state.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
That didn't bone well with Canadians. So Canadians just said,
we're not coming. Ain't gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Also, the tariffs have not endeared him to Canadian travelers.
And then you have overseas media the reports, and I'm
sure they're exaggerated, but this is news stories of these
capricious denials and detentions at US border crossings.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
All you do is take one or two and it.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Becomes international news, and all of a sudden, the tourist thinks, wow,
I may be picked up and detained at the border,
coming in to be a tour and all of a sudden,
I'm looking at days in a detention story and a
detention center. Last week, this Representative Stephen Horsford, who's a
(10:13):
Democrat the fourth Congressional district, which includes a portion of
Las Vegas, wrote, Las Vegas thrives on tourism and under
the Trump slump, the numbers are absolutely tanking. So the
hotel industry, the entire industry in Las Vegas, with the
(10:33):
numbers tanking like crazy, with the fewer number of people's
people coming in. How is the dollar terms in terms
the dollar terms in actual revenue, Well, it's doing great.
The hotels are doing great, even though the numbers are down.
All you have to use raise the prices. I guess
(10:55):
Clark County, where Las Vegas is located, collected one point
one six billion dollars in gambling revenue, up from three
point five percent a year earlier.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
People are just spending more money.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yet at the same time, I'm gonna do a segment
coming up where people are not spending more money. We
get to it doesn't matter where you look. There's always two, three,
five sides of the coin. Whether it's politics, economics, education,
it doesn't matter. And this one is go on the
other end American consumers. And this is something that I'm
(11:34):
in the middle of and you're in the middle of.
We're not spending as much money. We're getting thriftier and
thriftier American consumers. We're getting thrifty again. Consumer spending stagnated
first half of this year. And you got the CEOs
of Chipotle Mexican, Chipotle, Kroger, Procter, and Gamble telling investors
(11:57):
you know what You're not going to see the same, say,
are the same profit. Chief executive of Mandelez makes Oreos
and Rich crackers and Cadbury chocolate tays a lot of
consumer anxiety. Now, global sales of snacks went up, Global
sales of snacks went up. US sales went down a lot,
(12:22):
and so this is post pandemic. Well, right after the pandemic,
of course we spent like crazy. But now well we're uncertain.
Beef prices are at the highest level on record. Neil
talks about that. You've got well Ford Motor Company, for example,
the duties already raising prices fifty percent tariff on coffee.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
I mean it's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
People are really concerned, and we're worried about inflation and
job expectations and personal financing. So what ends up happening
We spend a whole lot less money. Even in visi line,
you see those commercials for those the braces.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
That you can't see.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Patients are putting off worthipedic treatment or choosing metal braces
because they're so much cheaper. What does that tell you
when in visi line is looking at metal braces and
this consumer on both ends of the market, people who
have money as well as people who don't have money.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
We're just.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
In a way that or we're shopping in a way
that we have before. We used to throw money after
the pandemic. I mean we really didn't care. I mean,
look at how lows did, and look at how the
home improvement centers did, and the people that installed windows
and driveways.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
We went crazy.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Cookwar went through the roof, Gourmet shopping went through the roof.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Well, not so much anymore.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Kroger reports the shoppers are making more trips to the store,
but putting way less in carts, also clipping coupons.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
A lot more, and scrimping on alcohol, for example.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
And the stores are selling more generic brand products, offering promotions.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
I mean, it all looks.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
At we all are spending a whole lot less money.
Now what does that mean for the future, No one knows.
At this point, I think we're gonna start saving again
because of the fear. The other thing that's going to
happen is and you're going to see this because the
story I just did about the head of the Bureau
of Labor Statistics and the President is going to name
(14:38):
a new head of the Labor the Statistical Labor Board
is you're going to see the numbers become very rosy,
very rosy, and at the same time you're going to
see prices go up, and it's we're in for quite
a bit of turmoil. Olive Garden, which is one of
the premier fast casual chains out there. I love Olive Garden.
(15:00):
Neil's talked about Olive Garden me too. That's I just
love Olive Garden. That the bread and the salads that
you can eat forever. They are getting more business now
from whole households with annual incomes over one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars. Now, who makes one hundred and fifty
thousand or two hundred thousand dollars that would eat at
(15:21):
Olive Garden? Not many, except now those people are eating
there like crazy.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
The one down the street from the station, uh and
uh it is packed constantly, constantly.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
That's the one that we go to quite a bit.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Where is it?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
I haven't I don't think I've ever been to that
Olive Garden. And I'm like, go and where is that one?
Speaker 1 (15:46):
It's uh, it's gosh, okay, this is hell Victory Place,
Victory Place down on oh.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Okay, So yeah, all right, got it. That's with the airplane, Yes, exactly, yeah,
got it. In any case, Chipotle where yeah, look at this,
Your build your own bowl costs from ten to sixteen dollars.
That's a lot of money sales down last quarter. Dominoes
(16:14):
had to go for a lot more too for one
deals other promotions.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Domino's Pizza is a great chain.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
I happen to like their first of all, their cardboard
pizzas when they stopped using cardboard and sauce that was
made from rotten tomatoes and they apologized. Do you remember
when they apologized for your CEO apologized and I got
very upset because the old cardboard pizzas tasted a lot better.
But you and I have talked about their pan pizza,
(16:42):
which I loant pizza is terrific, phenomenal, phenomenal. So it's
a lot more coupon shopping, a lot COSTCO has to
be going through the roof. It has to be sales
that I can never tell because every time I depends
on the time of day. I don't know because I
go there at different times a day, so I can
never tell when it's crowded when it's not crowded. But
(17:03):
because people are so conscious, money conscious. They have to
be shopping at these Sam's Club.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Is there a Sam's Club anymore? Certainly Walmart's.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, there's Sam's Club. There's just not a whole lot
of them around. They're not like as many as Costco.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
You know. Also, generic brands at the supermarket actually are
infinitely better than they used to be. They used to
be utter crap, and now you've got generic brands that
are very good.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
Oh, I find them superior in many cases to name brands.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
All right, So now we're gonna move into and we're
gonna finish it up with the uber wealthy. So here
is the question. You win the lottery, you get a
massive inheritance. What is the first thing that comes to
mind that you're gonna do? Neil, shut up, Amy, You
(18:00):
inherit ten million, twenty million dollars. You win the lottery,
what what is the first thing that comes to mind?
What are you gonna do? Mm?
Speaker 5 (18:07):
Pay off my mortgage and the mortgage of all my friends?
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Okay, well the friend's business. I don't know about.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Kno first thing, friend, Amy, buddy?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah, ConA, what would be the first what would be
the first thing you would do?
Speaker 4 (18:19):
I would buy as much ultra as I can because
as a six percent dividend.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
So well that's kno, that's why he's gonna be richard
than the rest of us to be broke in.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Will Will, Can you hear me, what's the first thing
you would do if you had a pile of money
that came in, serious insane money?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Probably did it? What what Amy said?
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Okay, now you know what the answer is. Survey says,
fly private.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
That's what people say they're going to do. Yep, yep.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
The number one response is fly private. Now there are
people you got these basketball players for example, that's saying
these zillion dollar contracts and they are asked, what's the
first thing you're gonna do? Buy my mama a house.
No mother in the world is worth a house. Okay,
not on this planet. So that's off the table that
(19:09):
I don't understand. Flying private I understand. And there are
two kinds of flying private people too. Okay, Now we're
talking to people that have serious money, flying private, because
even if you charter a plane a jet, it's still
thousands of dollars an hour.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
So you know, believe me, this is beyond the reach
of most of us.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
And I know you made fun of me that I've
done it once, Neil, I did it once, and you
know why I did it, because I think I just got.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
In the star or whatever.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
I was on someone's radar and some jet company, fractional
jet company, a rental place got hold of me hoping
that I would sign up for them, and gave me
this insane, super duper deal on a private plane that
we went to Utah with. Okay, so don't give me
the pardon multiple times. Well no, actually not, but anyway
(20:08):
I got you know, that's the only reason I went.
And it's a one hour trip, not even forty five
minute trip. Now, two different kinds of people that fly private.
Number one are the uber uber, uber insane wealthy that
buy their own planes. That makes no financial sense, absolutely zero,
(20:33):
unless you're traveling the world, unless you are a Taylor
Swift and you're doing concerts all over the world.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Even then doesn't make much sense because it stays part.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
The other way that most people who fly private what
they do is they rent or they buy fractional pieces
of it, which means that you own a small piece.
And it is something that I found fascinating because that's
what people want to do. That has become the one,
(21:04):
the number one marker of real wealth. It's first thing
I think of. And by the way, I don't have
the money to fly private. Stop that with that.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
And by the way, file, there's flying private and they're
flying private.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
All right.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
You go to from here to Las Vegas, right, it's uh,
and you fill an airplane with ten people, Okay, it's
a little bit more than the cost of a first
class ticket for ten people. It's not crazy. It's not
that nuts at all. Now you fly from here to
Europe and the play has to head back. That's one
(21:39):
hundred and fifty thousand dollars hit. That is even people
that are insanely wealthy don't fly to Europe private. Also,
the planes aren't that comfortable because they're smaller unless you
are crazy crazy.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
No, I'm busting your jobs.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
But I I The fact is the only time I've
ever flown private was with you.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
So I know, and and and and by the way,
I was on the company jet.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Yeah once.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Because when I was and that's true, when I was
inducted into when I was inducted.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
In the Radio Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Uh, the CEO of the company was gracious enough to
say Bill will fly you, and Neil joined me, will
fly you to Chicago, and.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
I think Michelle joined as well.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Maybe, yeah, Michelle joined us.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Yeah, we had some people join us, and it was
that was the company doing that, and that was really
greatly appreciated. I mean, it's just it was a trip
of a lifetime. So that's how I flew private jets.
But I'll tell you the first time I ever did,
and I did many years ago, Sheldon Nagleson, who was
a client of mine, uh in the world of surrogacy.
(22:51):
He was just finished building the Venetian. It were just
on the last legs and I was having dinner with
him and he said, you want to see the Venetian
just before it opens, And I said, of course, and
he said he made a phone call. He goes van
Ey's Airport next Wednesday, eleven o'clock. And so there we go,
drive in. And for those of you that ever have
(23:14):
the opportunity, and if you are insurrogacy and have a
billionaire that you're getting involved in helping kids create a family,
this is good.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
You drive up to the stairs.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
And of course there's no waiting in line, walk up
these little stairs, get onto the airplane, sit down, and
then the pilot comes out, and you figure, okay, I'm
going to get the lecture I'm going to get you know,
your seat belts.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Those are the exits.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
The only thing was tell us when you're ready, mister
handle whoa. By the way, that sort of ruined my
next Southwest trip to Las Vegas on Southwest Airlines.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
It wasn't as much fun.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
I seem to recall that the pilots are the ones
that take your bags too.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Yeah you do. Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
Car was on the tarmac when you got there.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Yeah, I mean it's but that is when you're lucky
enough and I've just been in the right place at
the right time, you know. But anyway, if I got
into some serious money, serious serious money.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
It's flying, it's flying private. That's what we want to
do when we have money. Forget about this business of
paying off mortgages and helping friends. Amy, Yeah, I can
see paying off your own mortgage, but helping friends pay
off their mortgage?
Speaker 3 (24:38):
What is wrong with you? What you're going to buy
your friends? Come on?
Speaker 5 (24:43):
No, you know what you do though, when you win
the lottery, you should do this because I'm I'm sure
a lot of people would come knocking. It is before
you tell anybody you won, you call all your friends
and ask them to give you two thousand dollars, no
questions asked. That's so you know who your real friends are.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Wow, she's gonna start doing that to us.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
What planet are you on?
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Amy? All right, we're done, guys. Tomorrow morning it is
a wake up call with Amy. No private jet, will
no private jet. That's from five to uh six am.
And then Neil and I no private jets come aboard
from six to nine and of course kno can and
(25:32):
then Ann all right, guys, we're done. Gary and Shannon
up next. 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.
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM sixty.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Bill Handle Here, it is a Monday morning, miserable Monday morning.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
What did you say, Ammy? What were we gonna call this?
She's stuffing her face with a salad.
Speaker 4 (00:19):
Miserable, mondays, I think it.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Was miserable Monday.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
This is she eats salad in the morning, Neil, which
is why she looks the way she does, and we
look the way we do.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
I eat the animal that eats the salad normally. Ah, yeah,
so that eats the salad. I feel like I'm getting
my greens.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Right I And I eat the insect that eats the
animal that never mind, let's move on. Okay. Oh, by
the way, trending sheet, what's going on? President Trump is
going to announce a new Commissioner of the Bureau of
Labor Statistics over the next few days, and I can't
wait to see who that one's going to be. Now,
(01:03):
I didn't know what quishing was. I mean, I know
what a QR code is, of course we all do.
And they have become completely ubiquitous during the pandemic, for example,
and they were the default in restaurant menus, and today
three quarters restaurants, you look at the menu with a
QR code. Well, what happens is QR codes have become
(01:26):
increasingly targets for malicious use, and they're everywhere now, gas pumps,
yard signs, TV commercials. They're both useful and dangerous, and
we don't know about the dangerous part. That's simply not
something we think about. You know why, QR codes were
not meant to be secure devices. They were not thought
of in terms of security. They were just going to
(01:48):
make it easier for us, and they really didn't think
of how easy it is to compromise a QR code,
to the point where the FTC just issued a warning
about packages showing up with the QR code that wait
a sec, this is the wrong package. Here's a QR
code to return it. Guess what, that's not good stuff
(02:12):
because you you go ahead and you go on that
QR code and you snap on it. What is the
what does the verb that's used when you actually use
a QR code? You click on your scan camera? You
what you scan a QR code? You scan a QR code. Okay,
that helps, and I use QR codes. They didn't even
(02:34):
know that.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
And the reason cyber criminals love.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
This stuff is because it's so easy to slap a
fake QR code right onto a sticker with a parking
lot or utility bill. See, I didn't get I didn't
know that that you can. You can do this, Neil,
because not that you do do it sure or not,
But creating a fake QR code is the easiest thing
in the world for people that know what they're doing.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
And yeah, you can go to a website and do it.
It's easy.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
And then you print it out on you know, adhesive
back to paper and people don't think about and then
you put it over a menu and it's it's not
difficult at all. And if you're not thinking about it,
if you're just like you said, if you're thinking about
the ease of use, you're not thinking about the fact
(03:23):
that it may take you somewhere that you're not wanting
to go, you know.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Digitally.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yeah, I have a QR code to get into my gate,
thank goodness. Not working very well in my house. Uh
the way I get in I live in at gaty
come in in the way a lot of people do.
And to open and to open up the gate, I
either have my clicker or I have a sticker on
my car that's supposed to be read by the reader,
which it doesn't, so I can use my QR code.
(03:55):
And it never even occurred to me that that could
be fake, that someone could grab that. And I'll tell
you when I know it's fake is when one day
I get a statement from the recorder's office saying I
no longer own my house, that I've transferred my house
over to someone in Ukraine or someone in the eastern
(04:16):
part of Russia.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Well, sorry, mister Handel, somebody by the name of Stephen.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Kono, yes, owns your home.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Oh, and here's one before we go.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Okay, Apple and Android devices both are susceptible obviously to
QR codes. By the way, the changes now and there
are some companies that are looking at making smart QR codes,
but they have to have Microsoft and Apple buy into them,
because who manufactures the infrastructure on phones, et cetera. Why
(04:48):
are Apple phones iPhones more susceptible or people that have
iPhones more susceptible to QR code fakes? Scam, the uh.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
The quishing.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Why do you think that people that own iPhones are
more susceptible? Dud, dud, don't you do no they trust
iPhones more than Android users trust their their androids. People
who have androids are more are a little bit more
cognizant of what's going on or a little more hip
to what's going on. Your iPhone you trust completely. And
(05:26):
this is an iPhone process.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
Yeah, I get if you have Android.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
A lot of people that have Android are you know,
techies and like to fiddle with it and do stuff
and know that they don't filter their apps the same
way that Apple does.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
And I'm never gonna switch from an Apple phone ever,
and not because I love Apple phones. It's because if
you think I'm going to relearn how to use a phone,
I'll blow my brains out. First.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
We learn how to use your Apple phone every single day.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
I try.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
I don't relearn because that assumes that I've learned in
the first place.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
By the way qushing comes from, it's the term fishing,
which is social engineering so on phones back in the day,
and this is the same thing. They're just trying to
phish information out of you in a social setting.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Vegas tourism, Las Vegas is down and why is it down?
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Well, international tourists.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
According to the data from the Las Vegas Convention and
Visitors Authority.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
This is a big deal.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Visits to Las Vegas were down eleven percent in June
versus a year earlier.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
That's a big number.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Traffic on Interstate fifteen down a little over four percent.
It can't be enough if we were down forty percent
to be too much, But that's besides the point. A
number of air travels into Vegas declined six percent over
the previous June. Now, just to give you an idea
of how important Californians are, Southern Californians are to Vegas.
(07:02):
In twenty twenty four, Californians made up more than a
fifth of air travelers into Vegas twenty percent, nearly half
of them coming from the La Metro. Southern California provides
thirty percent of all the visitors to Las Vegas. I
mean that is a that it's an enormous number. So
(07:26):
it's going down.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Now.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Tourism, and I'm going to talk about tourism a little
bit later on. Tourism is only part of the picture.
Experts have already predicted based on the economy and where
it's going. And I'm going to give you an idea
why again next segment. Experts previously predicted slums in international tourism,
(07:49):
the Convention and Visitors Authority has to make twelve percent
of all the city's visitors are international. And so we're
going to lose twelve and a half billion dollars in
twenty twenty five that would have come in. And here
is what's going on, and politics, of course, they're being
thrown into this.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Julius Simpson, who is.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
The president of the World Travel and Tourism Council, and
she's the one that said twelve and a half billion
dollars international travel spending is going to go down. While
other nations are rolling out the welcome matt, the US
government is putting up the clothes sign. And to some
extent that's true. If you look at air traffic booking
(08:36):
from March, it showed a fifteen to twenty percent drop
and expected travel from major tourists sources that come into
this country from England, from Germany, from Canada, from Canada
and Mexico. Half of the tourists, the international tourists go
(08:58):
to Las Vegas.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
So why is it tanking so much?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
One because of the international economy and because of what's
going on politically, but also what's happening specifically as to countries.
For example, Presidents Trump's talk of making Canada the fifty
first state.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
That didn't bone well with Canadians. So Canadians just said,
we're not coming. Ain't gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Also, the tariffs have not endeared him to Canadian travelers.
And then you have overseas media the reports, and I'm
sure they're exaggerated, but this is news stories of these
capricious denials and detentions at US border crossings.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
All you do is take one or two and it.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Becomes international news, and all of a sudden, the tourist thinks, wow,
I may be picked up and detained at the border,
coming in to be a tour and all of a sudden,
I'm looking at days in a detention story and a
detention center. Last week, this Representative Stephen Horsford, who's a
(10:13):
Democrat the fourth Congressional district, which includes a portion of
Las Vegas, wrote, Las Vegas thrives on tourism and under
the Trump slump, the numbers are absolutely tanking. So the
hotel industry, the entire industry in Las Vegas, with the
(10:33):
numbers tanking like crazy, with the fewer number of people's
people coming in. How is the dollar terms in terms
the dollar terms in actual revenue, Well, it's doing great.
The hotels are doing great, even though the numbers are down.
All you have to use raise the prices. I guess
(10:55):
Clark County, where Las Vegas is located, collected one point
one six billion dollars in gambling revenue, up from three
point five percent a year earlier.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
People are just spending more money.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yet at the same time, I'm gonna do a segment
coming up where people are not spending more money. We
get to it doesn't matter where you look. There's always two, three,
five sides of the coin. Whether it's politics, economics, education,
it doesn't matter. And this one is go on the
other end American consumers. And this is something that I'm
(11:34):
in the middle of and you're in the middle of.
We're not spending as much money. We're getting thriftier and
thriftier American consumers. We're getting thrifty again. Consumer spending stagnated
first half of this year. And you got the CEOs
of Chipotle Mexican, Chipotle, Kroger, Procter, and Gamble telling investors
(11:57):
you know what You're not going to see the same, say,
are the same profit. Chief executive of Mandelez makes Oreos
and Rich crackers and Cadbury chocolate tays a lot of
consumer anxiety. Now, global sales of snacks went up, Global
sales of snacks went up. US sales went down a lot,
(12:22):
and so this is post pandemic. Well, right after the pandemic,
of course we spent like crazy. But now well we're uncertain.
Beef prices are at the highest level on record. Neil
talks about that. You've got well Ford Motor Company, for example,
the duties already raising prices fifty percent tariff on coffee.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
I mean it's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
People are really concerned, and we're worried about inflation and
job expectations and personal financing. So what ends up happening
We spend a whole lot less money. Even in visi line,
you see those commercials for those the braces.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
That you can't see.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Patients are putting off worthipedic treatment or choosing metal braces
because they're so much cheaper. What does that tell you
when in visi line is looking at metal braces and
this consumer on both ends of the market, people who
have money as well as people who don't have money.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
We're just.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
In a way that or we're shopping in a way
that we have before. We used to throw money after
the pandemic. I mean we really didn't care. I mean,
look at how lows did, and look at how the
home improvement centers did, and the people that installed windows
and driveways.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
We went crazy.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Cookwar went through the roof, Gourmet shopping went through the roof.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Well, not so much anymore.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Kroger reports the shoppers are making more trips to the store,
but putting way less in carts, also clipping coupons.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
A lot more, and scrimping on alcohol, for example.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
And the stores are selling more generic brand products, offering promotions.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
I mean, it all looks.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
At we all are spending a whole lot less money.
Now what does that mean for the future, No one knows.
At this point, I think we're gonna start saving again
because of the fear. The other thing that's going to
happen is and you're going to see this because the
story I just did about the head of the Bureau
of Labor Statistics and the President is going to name
(14:38):
a new head of the Labor the Statistical Labor Board
is you're going to see the numbers become very rosy,
very rosy, and at the same time you're going to
see prices go up, and it's we're in for quite
a bit of turmoil. Olive Garden, which is one of
the premier fast casual chains out there. I love Olive Garden.
(15:00):
Neil's talked about Olive Garden me too. That's I just
love Olive Garden. That the bread and the salads that
you can eat forever. They are getting more business now
from whole households with annual incomes over one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars. Now, who makes one hundred and fifty
thousand or two hundred thousand dollars that would eat at
(15:21):
Olive Garden? Not many, except now those people are eating
there like crazy.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
The one down the street from the station, uh and
uh it is packed constantly, constantly.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
That's the one that we go to quite a bit.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Where is it?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
I haven't I don't think I've ever been to that
Olive Garden. And I'm like, go and where is that one?
Speaker 1 (15:46):
It's uh, it's gosh, okay, this is hell Victory Place,
Victory Place down on oh.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Okay, So yeah, all right, got it. That's with the airplane, Yes, exactly, yeah,
got it. In any case, Chipotle where yeah, look at this,
Your build your own bowl costs from ten to sixteen dollars.
That's a lot of money sales down last quarter. Dominoes
(16:14):
had to go for a lot more too for one
deals other promotions.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Domino's Pizza is a great chain.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
I happen to like their first of all, their cardboard
pizzas when they stopped using cardboard and sauce that was
made from rotten tomatoes and they apologized. Do you remember
when they apologized for your CEO apologized and I got
very upset because the old cardboard pizzas tasted a lot better.
But you and I have talked about their pan pizza,
(16:42):
which I loant pizza is terrific, phenomenal, phenomenal. So it's
a lot more coupon shopping, a lot COSTCO has to
be going through the roof. It has to be sales
that I can never tell because every time I depends
on the time of day. I don't know because I
go there at different times a day, so I can
never tell when it's crowded when it's not crowded. But
(17:03):
because people are so conscious, money conscious. They have to
be shopping at these Sam's Club.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Is there a Sam's Club anymore? Certainly Walmart's.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, there's Sam's Club. There's just not a whole lot
of them around. They're not like as many as Costco.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
You know. Also, generic brands at the supermarket actually are
infinitely better than they used to be. They used to
be utter crap, and now you've got generic brands that
are very good.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
Oh, I find them superior in many cases to name brands.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
All right, So now we're gonna move into and we're
gonna finish it up with the uber wealthy. So here
is the question. You win the lottery, you get a
massive inheritance. What is the first thing that comes to
mind that you're gonna do? Neil, shut up, Amy, You
(18:00):
inherit ten million, twenty million dollars. You win the lottery,
what what is the first thing that comes to mind?
What are you gonna do? Mm?
Speaker 5 (18:07):
Pay off my mortgage and the mortgage of all my friends?
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Okay, well the friend's business. I don't know about.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Kno first thing, friend, Amy, buddy?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah, ConA, what would be the first what would be
the first thing you would do?
Speaker 4 (18:19):
I would buy as much ultra as I can because
as a six percent dividend.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
So well that's kno, that's why he's gonna be richard
than the rest of us to be broke in.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Will Will, Can you hear me, what's the first thing
you would do if you had a pile of money
that came in, serious insane money?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Probably did it? What what Amy said?
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Okay, now you know what the answer is. Survey says,
fly private.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
That's what people say they're going to do. Yep, yep.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
The number one response is fly private. Now there are
people you got these basketball players for example, that's saying
these zillion dollar contracts and they are asked, what's the
first thing you're gonna do? Buy my mama a house.
No mother in the world is worth a house. Okay,
not on this planet. So that's off the table that
(19:09):
I don't understand. Flying private I understand. And there are
two kinds of flying private people too. Okay, Now we're
talking to people that have serious money, flying private, because
even if you charter a plane a jet, it's still
thousands of dollars an hour.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
So you know, believe me, this is beyond the reach
of most of us.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
And I know you made fun of me that I've
done it once, Neil, I did it once, and you
know why I did it, because I think I just got.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
In the star or whatever.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
I was on someone's radar and some jet company, fractional
jet company, a rental place got hold of me hoping
that I would sign up for them, and gave me
this insane, super duper deal on a private plane that
we went to Utah with. Okay, so don't give me
the pardon multiple times. Well no, actually not, but anyway
(20:08):
I got you know, that's the only reason I went.
And it's a one hour trip, not even forty five
minute trip. Now, two different kinds of people that fly private.
Number one are the uber uber, uber insane wealthy that
buy their own planes. That makes no financial sense, absolutely zero,
(20:33):
unless you're traveling the world, unless you are a Taylor
Swift and you're doing concerts all over the world.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Even then doesn't make much sense because it stays part.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
The other way that most people who fly private what
they do is they rent or they buy fractional pieces
of it, which means that you own a small piece.
And it is something that I found fascinating because that's
what people want to do. That has become the one,
(21:04):
the number one marker of real wealth. It's first thing
I think of. And by the way, I don't have
the money to fly private. Stop that with that.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
And by the way, file, there's flying private and they're
flying private.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
All right.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
You go to from here to Las Vegas, right, it's uh,
and you fill an airplane with ten people, Okay, it's
a little bit more than the cost of a first
class ticket for ten people. It's not crazy. It's not
that nuts at all. Now you fly from here to
Europe and the play has to head back. That's one
(21:39):
hundred and fifty thousand dollars hit. That is even people
that are insanely wealthy don't fly to Europe private. Also,
the planes aren't that comfortable because they're smaller unless you
are crazy crazy.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
No, I'm busting your jobs.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
But I I The fact is the only time I've
ever flown private was with you.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
So I know, and and and and by the way,
I was on the company jet.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Yeah once.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Because when I was and that's true, when I was
inducted into when I was inducted.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
In the Radio Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Uh, the CEO of the company was gracious enough to
say Bill will fly you, and Neil joined me, will
fly you to Chicago, and.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
I think Michelle joined as well.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Maybe, yeah, Michelle joined us.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Yeah, we had some people join us, and it was
that was the company doing that, and that was really
greatly appreciated. I mean, it's just it was a trip
of a lifetime. So that's how I flew private jets.
But I'll tell you the first time I ever did,
and I did many years ago, Sheldon Nagleson, who was
a client of mine, uh in the world of surrogacy.
(22:51):
He was just finished building the Venetian. It were just
on the last legs and I was having dinner with
him and he said, you want to see the Venetian
just before it opens, And I said, of course, and
he said he made a phone call. He goes van
Ey's Airport next Wednesday, eleven o'clock. And so there we go,
drive in. And for those of you that ever have
(23:14):
the opportunity, and if you are insurrogacy and have a
billionaire that you're getting involved in helping kids create a family,
this is good.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
You drive up to the stairs.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
And of course there's no waiting in line, walk up
these little stairs, get onto the airplane, sit down, and
then the pilot comes out, and you figure, okay, I'm
going to get the lecture I'm going to get you know,
your seat belts.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Those are the exits.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
The only thing was tell us when you're ready, mister
handle whoa. By the way, that sort of ruined my
next Southwest trip to Las Vegas on Southwest Airlines.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
It wasn't as much fun.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
I seem to recall that the pilots are the ones
that take your bags too.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Yeah you do. Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
Car was on the tarmac when you got there.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Yeah, I mean it's but that is when you're lucky
enough and I've just been in the right place at
the right time, you know. But anyway, if I got
into some serious money, serious serious money.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
It's flying, it's flying private. That's what we want to
do when we have money. Forget about this business of
paying off mortgages and helping friends. Amy, Yeah, I can
see paying off your own mortgage, but helping friends pay
off their mortgage?
Speaker 3 (24:38):
What is wrong with you? What you're going to buy
your friends? Come on?
Speaker 5 (24:43):
No, you know what you do though, when you win
the lottery, you should do this because I'm I'm sure
a lot of people would come knocking. It is before
you tell anybody you won, you call all your friends
and ask them to give you two thousand dollars, no
questions asked. That's so you know who your real friends are.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Wow, she's gonna start doing that to us.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
What planet are you on?
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Amy? All right, we're done, guys. Tomorrow morning it is
a wake up call with Amy. No private jet, will
no private jet. That's from five to uh six am.
And then Neil and I no private jets come aboard
from six to nine and of course kno can and
(25:32):
then Ann all right, guys, we're done. Gary and Shannon
up next. 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.
The Bill Handel Show News
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.