Talkline | Oct. 28, 2025 - MetroNews Talkline

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Speaker 1 (00:15):
You ever get up so early you get to see
the end of a baseball game. Happened to me Metro
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Speaker 2 (00:32):
Off from the studios of w v r C Media
and the Metro News Radio and Television network. The Voice
up West Virginia comes the most powerful show in West Virginia.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
This It's Metro News talk Line.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
With Dave Wilson and TJ. Meadows activated.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
So it's where can we.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Hold from Charles stand by to David DJ.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
You're on.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Metro News talk Line is presented by Encoba Insurance, encircling
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Speaker 1 (01:12):
Good morning, Welcome into the program. It is Metro News
talk Line on a Tuesday morning. Thanks for joining us
on one of our great affiliates across the state of
West Virginia, or if you're watching on the Metro News
TV at Jake Link is our video producer this morning,
and Ethan Collins is handling the phones. He is sitting
by at eight hundred and seven to sixty five Talk

(01:33):
eight hundred and seven sixty five eight two five five.
That's the phone number you can text us three h
four Talk three oh four Second hour, retired w President
Gordon Gee is going to join us. He recently had
an op ed published on Fox News regarding diversity of
thoughts on college campuses across the country in three ways

(01:56):
to achieve it. We'll talk to doctor Gee. Coming up
in the second hour, Bill Bissett will stop by West
Virginia Manufacturers Association. We'll talk Tom Sussman will join us
as well. We'll talk healthcare issues with Tom, as the
open enrollment for ACA is looming, those expanded tax credits
are still floating out there, and of course PEA issues

(02:19):
as usual. But first say good morning TJ. Meadows from
the Charleston and Cove Insurance Studios today, TJ.

Speaker 4 (02:25):
Good morning, Good morning. I mean, Gordon thinks that we
all shouldn't think the same thing.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
I think that's what he thinks. We'll find out, won't
we bager to talk to him. I want to ask
him what he's been up to as well. I can't
imagine him sitting still for a second. Well, let me
tell you we started reaching out last week. Wow, see
when did that come out? On the twentieth or so,
It's taken a week to track him down. He was
in Arizona at one point at Arizona, I believe Arizona

(02:53):
State when I made contact with him at one point. So, yeah,
he's busy man. He doesn't have time to sit around
and you know he retired like Hafe Kertchwall. He's got
stuff to do. The man's busy, he is speaking of busy.
Hoping to check came with Fox News Radios Ryan Schmells
get the latest on the government shutdown. But I believe
House Speaker Mike Johnson is at the podium again this morning,

(03:17):
that is correct, And he brought art this morning, had
a visual there with various talking points about how the
Democrats have had a chance to vote thirteen times on
this and they have failed to do so. They could
reopen the government and then negotiate the ACA credits. Had
his artwork. He's talking as we speak. Let me know

(03:39):
if Ryan checks in her.

Speaker 4 (03:40):
Dave, I don't want to ramble, but I did want
to ask you, did you have to see what Shelley
Moore Capito said last night?

Speaker 1 (03:45):
I did not. I was watching that eighteen inning marathon. Gotcha.

Speaker 4 (03:48):
Well I didn't watch all of it, but well a
lot of it. She said she would be willing to
vote for a carve out on SNAP, a standalone on SNAP.
So is that crack in the Republican damn noell two
hundred and forty seven thousand people here in West Virginia
on Snap. She may be in a different predicament than
other senators of other states, but she's got juice. And

(04:10):
if she's saying that's a vote, I would vote yes, Son,
that matters.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
Is it a carve or not a carve out? But
is it a crack? TJ to just realize the reality
of the situation that this is a an unintended consequence.
Maybe it's an intended consequence. Who depends on how you
ask of the government shutdown? Look just because they can't
get there, you know what together on Capitol Hill. Yeah,
this shouldn't be impacting families in West Virginia or any

(04:37):
of the other forty nine states that depend on these
benefits on a day to day basis. So I can
see where that's coming from. I don't know if that's
a crack. I don't know.

Speaker 4 (04:46):
Yeah, maybe cracks the wrong word on my part. Maybe
it's a common sense move. I do think it's different.
And we talked about yesterday. Children are involved here. When
children are involved, then yes, we need to do our best,
and I think that would be a good vote personally.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
Take it. Move on. But here's the thing.

Speaker 4 (05:05):
Even if they passed the clean CR today, it was
only funding the government through November twenty. First, we've already
spent all that time. So we're going to be right
back in the same boat.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
Because it was supposed to be what it was supposed
to be, a seven week seven week measure.

Speaker 4 (05:20):
Well, we've spent four of them doing nothing. Yeah, so
we're going to be right back up against it. And
none of this changes any of the numbers really that
we're dealing with. I think the most common sense idea
that I've heard thus far comes from Rand Paul pass
a clean CR. Now, put three Democrats three Republicans in

(05:42):
a room. Trump brokers the deal, He stands behind it.
They negotiate. By the end of the year, or hopefully
before open enrollment closes, you've got a deal, and you
move on.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
Ah, in a perfect world, TJ. In a perfect world,
sounds great. It would be great if we could work
then out. There was a development yesterday the nation's largest
federal workers union called on Congress to end the shutdown,
putting pressure on Senate Democrats who repeatedly blocked the Republican measure.
The president of the American Federation of Government Employees, Everett Kelly,

(06:17):
said it's time to pass a clean continuing resolution and
in the shutdown today, the union represents more than eight
hundred thousand employees. Kelly called the situation an avoidable crisis.
There's an understatement that is harming families and communities. Quote
both political parties have made their point, and still there
is no clear end in sight. Reading from the Wall

(06:39):
Street Journal that article, TJ goes on to then quote
a couple of Democrats, including Chuck Schumer, a couple of
other Senate Democrats who kind of kind of schluffed it
off as yeah, yeah, we kind of knew that was
their position anyway. But what does that Does that signal
a crack since that's the word of the segment here,
is that a crack in the in the resolve of

(07:00):
the Democrats in the Senate. If the largest government employees
union is saying, hey, just pass the clean cr already,
that has to carry some weight.

Speaker 4 (07:07):
I mean, it sure ought to be an attention getter.
If it's not a crack because when you think unions,
you think Democrat.

Speaker 1 (07:15):
That's just the way it works.

Speaker 4 (07:16):
And if the Democrats aren't willing to listen to one
of their largest unions, that would appear to be a disconnect.
At the very least. People just want to work, man,
They just want to get paid. They've got to take
their kids to school. You've got the holidays coming up.
People need to start their Christmas shopping. Let's just be
practical for a minute and let me make a correction.

(07:36):
I said two hundred and forty seven thousand West Virginia's
on a snap. Texter corrected me. They're absolutely right, it's
two hundred and seventy seven four hundred. My apologies for
transversing those numbers. So I want to get that right.
But we're coming up on the holidays. You got Thanksgiving,
you got Christmas, you got everything that goes with that.
People max their credit cards out. I mean, people just
want to be able to be paid and work take

(07:58):
care of their families, so they don't care about all
this other stuff. They don't care about the debt as
much as I do and as much as we should
be dealing with it, because they have the practical right
in front of them that they have to take care
of today.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
And I think that's where look for if you are
not a government employee right now. And look, I'm not
making light of the situation. If you are living paycheck
to paycheck, I get the seriousness of the situation. But
if you're not, TJ has your life changed at all
over the last four weeks because the Senate can't get
its act together and pass a continuing resolution? Not yet. Now,

(08:31):
if you don't make it to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving
because there's not enough air traffic controllers to work, you
might have might have a different tune, might be seeing
a different tune. But have the markets reacted to this
government shut down in an overtly negative way? You watch
those closely.

Speaker 4 (08:47):
Now, No, they're up, they're hitting highs. They're reacting to
our trade deal with China, other factors. They're reacting to earnings.
This has been nothing.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
So what's the point you're proving by preventing snap benefits
from rolling out from people getting paid? You know, government
workers being paid, air traffic controllers, military personnel, you're everyday
people who are just working in federal offices. Well, what
point are you proving here. That's the part that's lost
on me over the last month.

Speaker 4 (09:16):
Here, you're proving you can get by with a lot
less than what you thought. Now Thanksgiving biggest travel holiday
of the year. Lack of air traffic controllers, that's a
game changer that hits the fan. People are gonna get
ticked off about that. But I haven't heard of stories, well,
I couldn't get a passport, or I couldn't get a
fix with the Social Security Office because something was wrong,

(09:39):
or I couldn't get signed up for Social Security. Now
that I'm eligible, I'm not hearing those stories. So if
those things are still functioning, and you know, okay, the
day to day operations seem to be fine, then you
fall back on SNAP. And right now it hasn't happened yet.
Right November first is coming. If you get the carve
out for that, or if you got carve out for military,

(10:01):
and personally, maybe that's part of the negotiation. If you
do a carve out for SNAP, why wouldn't you do
the carve out for the military at the same time,
So does that become part of this? And to your point,
if you get those carve outs and you're funding those things,
then what else is left to argue?

Speaker 1 (10:16):
I was gonna say, well, we're gonna do fund everything,
but like this, we'll fund over, We'll carve out something
for everything. DJ. We'll just leave this one thing where
the government still is, you know, dysfunctional. I just don't
you know, I don't get it. And look, Republicans, and
this goes back to our conversation we had last Friday
with Starwalt. You've already won. Republicans are going to see

(10:39):
concede on this, these extended tax credits because they can
see the political calculus here TJ. You can see it
here in West Virginia, the impact those are going to have.
And we're gonna talk to Tom Susman Bonham of The
Hour a little bit about this. Open enrollment starts on Saturday,
and if you're shopping, you know, on the marketplace there
on whatever what is it called dot go healthcare dot gov,

(11:01):
and you see those premium increases, it's going to catch
your attention. So I just don't know what we're doing.
I don't know what we're doing.

Speaker 4 (11:08):
Some of the points though, and again I know I've
been harping on Rand Paul, but I think he's making
good points in this argument a family making. I think
he said it was two hundred and twenty five thousand
dollars a year. Couldet a twelve hundred dollars subsidy on healthcare?
Dot go, you need a subsidy if you make two
hundred and twenty five thousand dollars a year.

Speaker 1 (11:25):
Something's broken with that, folks. Sure So, I mean, if
you get these other things.

Speaker 4 (11:31):
Off the table, and it forces conversations back to well, okay,
if you want this, we have to triosh, you have
to cut that. There have to be some cuts here,
because both of these plans one raises I think. I
think the clean cr still raises it what one point
five trillion in terms of the next deficit, and with
what the Dems want to do, it's a little more

(11:52):
than two maybe two.

Speaker 1 (11:53):
And a half. Either of those sound good.

Speaker 4 (11:55):
I mean, so if if there's a way to carve outs,
damp and handle that and move us forward towards serious
conversations about the debt and forget the debt for a second,
just not running another deficit for the upcoming fiscal year,
I can deal with that.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
I know we talk about you love to talk about
the debt I did. And I always say, look, it's
so big, it's such an existential. I mean, it's so abstract,
you know, what is it? Thirty eight we're approaching forty
trillion dollars in debt. Like you said, how about we
just wouldn't it be nice if we just went through
the appropriations process past to balance budget. Boy, that would
be a great first step. I would take that to TJ.

(12:35):
I would take that at this point. That's how dysfunctional
we are.

Speaker 4 (12:39):
Yeah, no a balance budget, no additional deficit, put pay
go back in. So if you want to do things,
you have to pay for them. And what I tell
people is, look, just take some zeros off, take some
zeros off of this and say, hey, if my household
income is thirty eight thousand dollars a year, forty eight
thousand dollars a year, whatever it may be, and I'm
I've got sixty thousand or seventy dollars worth of expenses

(13:02):
and I got to figure out how to fund that
every year, and I've maxed out my credit cards. What
happens bankruptcy? Just take the zeros off and it's the
same situation. It's just more zeros with the federal budget,
we're heading toward bankruptcy period.

Speaker 1 (13:15):
All right, smells us back on the list, Although I mean,
do we give him a pass if he's covering the
news conference with Speaker Johnson? It's over now, I think,
all right, we'll see, we'll see if he makes good
here in the hour somewhere your thoughts three or four
talk three or four. I am curious, and we've got
some time today. We usually jammed the show tight, and
we don't have a lot of time to stray very far.

(13:37):
But have you been impacted? We brought this up? Have
you been impacted by the government shutdown? Look? I get
it if you're a corrections officer and you're working up
at Hazelton and you've you've had to work without a paycheck.
I get that if you work in one of the offices.
But have you been impact Are you paying any attention
other than when we bring it up on this program
about the government shutdown? Or have you gone about your

(13:59):
day and really have not been all that impacted? I'm curious.
Let us know. Three or four talk three h four
is the text line eight hundred seven to sixty five
eight two five five. That's the phone number. We'll get
to some texts coming up next. There's an article recently
in the Gazette Mail concerning gubernatorial travel and the first Lady.
We'll get into that subject next. This is talk line

(14:20):
from the in Cove Insurance Studios.

Speaker 5 (14:23):
Governor Patrick Morrissey has set of very bold goal fifty
gigawats of new energy capacity by twenty fifty. Thanks to
House Built twenty fourteen, West Virginia's coal plans will be
upgraded to run longer, stronger, and more efficiently, thus delivering reliable,
affordable baseload power. Our families and businesses will be able

(14:44):
to count on. West Virginia Coal Association President Chris Hamilton
stated Governor Morrissey's plan to grow West Virginia's energy generation
capacity to fifty gigawatts by twenty fifty is a dynamic
approach to economic development which will supercharge verage our state's
coal industry and broader economy. With Governor Morrisy's leadership and

(15:05):
the action of the legislature, West Virginia is once again
America's energy leader. Coal is powering Progress. Cole is powering
West Virginia. Brought to you by the West Virginia Coal Association.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
Metro News talk Line is presented by Incovia Insurance, encircling
Visitancova dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
A couple of texts here three or four talk three
oh four texter says adults have choices that children do not,
but their needs are not always more important than adults.
We need healthy adults to raise up healthy children, says
the text. They're already paying the military, says the texter.
Are they? I think military is getting paid? Are they?

(16:07):
Wasn't that something different happened?

Speaker 6 (16:10):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (16:10):
I didn't think they were. Did I miss something? Maybe
I missed something.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
By the way, Schmel says, he says he did not
see that we were added for ten oh six. Do
we believe him? Ryan's a street shooter. Yeah, he says that.
I wouldn't believe. But yeah, alper and we know he's lying.
I wouldn't go that far. Uh, but Ryan says he's

(16:37):
gonna try for ten forty five little behind the scenes programming. Uh.
The problem is Congress is still getting a paycheck. You
know what, that's fair. If you're not going to do
your job, you shouldn't be getting paid I'm okay with that.
I know several government contractors that are not working because
of the shutdown. That's a good point. It's not just
federal employees. But if you are, if your business is

(16:59):
building widgets, you know, on a government contract, well you
don't have anything to build right now. Yeah, I hadn't
thought of that. Good point, huge employer the federal government, TJ.
This is right at you, buddy. The people care about
the cost of healthcare. Just like nobody is doing anything
about the debt. Nothing is being done about the unaffordable
cost of health care in this country.

Speaker 4 (17:22):
Respectfully, the government can do everything about the debt. They're
the ones that make the spending decisions. When you spend
more than you take in, you have a deficit.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
I hear you.

Speaker 4 (17:29):
On healthcare, that should be the private sector. Government shouldn't
have a place in that. I know that's not popular opinion,
but there you have it.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
Correlation is not always causation. But let me tell you,
since the government got involved in health care, the cost
have not gone down, no at all. All right, let's
get into this quickly because we may just have time
to introduce it. We'll come back to it. We have
the time today. Recent article in the West Vignia Gazette
mailed detailing the Governor's trips to Washington, d C. Specifically

(17:58):
TJ the First First Lady Denise Morrissey accompanying Governor Morrissey
on these trips. Why is it significant? Well, she's a
longtime lobbist in a healthcare industry. The article raises some
ethical questions about her involvement with her job as a
lobbyist in traveling to DC. There was a follow up
editorial in the gazette mail in today's edition. I got

(18:19):
a couple of thoughts. You've read this article. I've read
this article. It's newsworthy. I think it's good information. I
think the reporting is fine. I'm I mean, are we
supposed to be surprised that the First Lady is traveling
with the governor to Washington, d C. For these events
with RFK Junior or to meet with the President. I mean,
of course she would travel with the Governor on these trips.

(18:41):
That's not surprising to me at.

Speaker 4 (18:42):
All, not surprising at all, And frankly doesn't matter. It's factual,
but in my opinion, doesn't matter. Let me tell you
what does matter. Go ahead, three hundred and ninety thousand
dollars in lobbying firm income for her formal a former
I should say firm in Washington Capital Council. She didn't
leave that firm, according to this story, until March, but
a lot of these fees came in in the first quarter.

(19:03):
And a lot of the companies here that she was
lobbying for physicians, advocacy institutes, food fixed campaign, Healthcare Leadership Council.
A lot of these companies tie back to several of
the legislative initiatives that have been happening in West Virginia.
Mackenzie and Company is a member of the Healthcare Leadership Council.

(19:26):
According to this piece, they're trying to frame up the
state's rural Health Transformation Plan. You talk to folks at
the capitol, Dave, you've heard this. I've heard it the
first lady. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with
this just because other first ladies haven't done it. She's
been active in lobbying, whipping votes on behalf of her
husband's initiatives and her initiatives. I'm not saying there's anything
wrong with that, but you got to pick one or

(19:47):
the other. Buddy, You can't do both. You can't be
the first lady whipping people here in West Virginia and
also be the first lady in Washington lobbying people and
firms and companies who tie back to West Virginia. Now
she's gone from that firm now, But what about the
first quarter when she was first lady an a lobbyist.

Speaker 1 (20:04):
Yeah, that raised more questions for me than the travel.
I mean, look, of course she's going to travel with
the governor. I get that. Yeah, that raised more questions
for me. So in February when it's in session and
these issues were coming up in front of the legislature,
were you working for the firms at that point? Are
you working as Which hat were you wearing? And I've

(20:26):
been through this with some local government issues ToJ you
don't just get to take one hat off and put
the other one on. You are here, you are all
of the time. That does raise a few questions for
me as far as that goes, so, and I think
they're fair questions. They're fair questions to ask.

Speaker 4 (20:41):
Yeah, I look, transparency, right, Yes, we heard that from
the governor. Transparency in all things. I asked many moons ago,
a former Press secretary about this. Never got an answer
back many moons ago. I was like, is she still
working for that firm? Is she still lobbying? What's going on?
Never got an answers, Fine, we read this today. That's

(21:01):
fine too, you decide.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
By the way, Governor Morrisey's got a news conference. This
is unrelated, but Governor Morrisey has a news conference coming up,
uh later this afternoon from the Capitol, and I believe
they're going to talk about snap benefits, or at least
that's what I understood would be part of that discussion
later this afternoon. We'll have a cover for you, of course,
over at the website wv metronews dot com. Tom Susman's

(21:26):
going to join us next. He's been a delegate, he's
worked in administrations. We'll talk about these healthcare costs, what
about Peia. We'll do that on the other side of
the break. More of your text as well. Three or
four Talk Three or four is the text line an
eight hundred and seven to sixty five. Talk is the
phone number. This is talk line on Metro News for
forty years, the Voice of West Virginia. It is ten
thirty times to get a news update. Let's check you

(21:48):
in on the Metro News radio network find out what's
happening across the great state of West Virginia.

Speaker 7 (21:55):
West Virginia Metro News, I'm Jeff Jenkins. State Public Service
Commission Chairman Charlotte Lane says she knows those Frontier Communications
has provided, in her words, shaky customer service in the past.
Lane says she believes that will improve with Verizon purchasing
Frontier system in the Mountain state. The PSC has given
its approval. Lane tells Metro News that Verizon has to
spend millions to upgrade copper lines for those who get

(22:18):
that service.

Speaker 8 (22:19):
Still, it was very important that the people in West
Virginia who have no other choice but to have a
landline have to be taken care of.

Speaker 7 (22:28):
You can read more on the case at wv metronews
dot com. Each school in West Virginia set to receive
fifteen hundred dollars to help meet the needs of students.
It's called to Keep the Ball Rolling program through communities
and schools. Stay School Superintendent Michelle Blatt says three prominent
state couples are stepping up and providing more than one
million dollars in funding.

Speaker 4 (22:46):
You know, Brandon Elise Smith joining with Lisa Larry Pack
and Shawn Ball, who started this initiative several years ago
to make sure that every school in our.

Speaker 9 (22:55):
State has funding available at the kid's needs is just amazing.

Speaker 7 (22:58):
There were events in Huntington and Charleston Money Day that'll
switch to Beckley Woodrow Wilson High School later on today.
A ceremony schedule for the receiving in Madison where new
Family Court Judge Elliott Workman we'll take the ceremonial oath
of office. He was appointed recently by Governor Morrissey. New
State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Earing will do the swearing
in at five o'clock at the Boone County Courthouse. You're

(23:18):
listening to Metro News for forty years, the voice of
West Virginia.

Speaker 5 (23:23):
Governor Patrick Morrissey. A set of very bold goal fifty
gigawats a new energy capacity by twenty fifty. Thanks to
House Bill twenty fourteen, West Virginia's coal plans will be
upgraded to run longer, stronger, and more efficiently, thus delivering reliable,
affordable base load power. Our families and businesses will be

(23:44):
able to count on West Virginia Coal Association President Chris
Hamilton stated Governor Morrissey's plan to grow West Virginia's energy
generation capacity to fifty gigawatts by twenty fifteen is a
dynamic approach to economic development which will supercharge our state's
coal industry and broader economy. With Governor Morrisy's leadership and

(24:05):
the action of the Legislature, West Virginia is once again
America's energy leader. Cold is powering Progress. Cold is Powering
West Virginia. Brought to you by the West Virginia Cold Association.

Speaker 7 (24:21):
Have your umbrella handy today for a rainy day in
the Mountain State. National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Curtis, this.

Speaker 10 (24:26):
Rain definitely is needed again. We've had a really dry
period over these past couple of months, and we are
starting to transition into that time though, where we're seeing
storms that come more often.

Speaker 7 (24:39):
That Curtis says, the rain will spread from south to
north with heavier amounts this evening into tomorrow. Temperatures in
the fifties and sixties. From the Metro News anchored aaths
I'm Jeff Jenkins.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
Three or four Talk three or four is the text
line eight hundred and seven to sixty five eight two
five five update on Schmell's watch Tuesday. He is in
fact in the speaker Johnson's press conference, but again he's
going to try to join us about ten forty five here,
let's get in a quick call before we get to
Tom Sussman. Dwayne in Morgantown. What's on your mind? Dwayne?

Speaker 11 (25:33):
Hey, I just want to point out a good job
on TJ for highlighting the Denise Morris he having a
conflict of interest with lob lobbying groups. And I think
that there's a lot of companies and I've asked you
all to kind of highlight this that you've had other
organizations one here that talk about different different policies or

(25:56):
different thoughts, and most of those companies have conflict of
interests as well. And my only would be aap SO
the American Academy of Pediatrics, the vast majority of their
funding comes from pharmaceutal companies, and those are the same
companies that are telling them are the same organization is
telling us which vaccines we need to give our children,
even though they get the vast majority of their funding

(26:17):
from pharmaceudal companies. I wish that y'all would just put
the same kind of scrutiny on the other organizations that
call in.

Speaker 1 (26:26):
Hey, Dwayne, I appreciate the phone call body, and let
me say, look, I get what you're saying. It is
hard to unravel. At some point everyone's connected. And I'm
trying to say this carefully without sounding like it's hard
to unravel. At some point, you just you gotta take
them at face value, you know what I mean to
j I don't know if I'm saying that well, but

(26:48):
at some point, everybody in every industry is connected. You know,
it's what six degrees of separation. You find those connections somewhere.
So listen, I totally get what you're saying, Dwayne. I understand,
and I think we should look at everything with the
little bit of a critical eye on who's funding it,
where's coming from, how we're arriving at these conclusions. But
you can get you can really get lost.

Speaker 4 (27:07):
In the weeds very quickly, very quickly. And just kudos
to the Gazette and Mike Tonium. He's his reporting. Yeah,
we're just talking about it.

Speaker 1 (27:16):
Of course, you can read that story over at the
Gazette Mail's website, or if you still have the still
get the physical paper. Which the only person who I
know who still gets newspapers physically is Dave Allen, who
will be on later today. That's because he's in the
final demographic. Take it easy on him. You're going to
steal his paper one day when you're down here. Just
drive by his house and steal his paper in the morning.

(27:37):
You know I'll be down there tomorrow. I might swipe it.
Swipe it while he's yes. Tom Sussman has he has
worked in administrations previously. He's been a delegate. Bit at heart,
of course, he is a radio guy, owns WMOV Radio.
They're in the valley. He joins us on Metro ne
his talk line This morning, Tom, good morning, good to

(27:57):
talk to you.

Speaker 9 (27:59):
Good morning. And by my declaration, I'm like Dave Allen,
I still get a physical paper and I really like
to read it.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
There's something nice to be able to sit in the morning,
drink a cup of coffee and actually hold a paper
and read it. I read my hometown paper just about
every weekend when it comes into mail. There's something nice
about it. It's relaxing, absolutely all right. Tom, Let's start
with the ACA. Open enrollment starts on Saturday, and when
people go to log on and start shopping healthcare plans

(28:29):
through the ACA. They're going to be surprised, I think
on Saturday.

Speaker 9 (28:34):
Oh, it's gonna be massive, sicker shock. I mean you're
going to see people, you know, a family of four
probably going from you know, fifteen hundred, two thousand dollars
a month to four thousand dollars a month. Seniors who
are on there pre medicare they're going to see increases
of fifteen hundred to three thousand dollars. It's gonna be

(28:56):
I mean, they're going to be really upset with all
the federal elected officials, whether they're blue, red, or green.

Speaker 4 (29:03):
Good morning, Tom, Thanks for being here. Good to talk
to you. So how do we fix it? You've got
more experience than I do in this. I try to
read more. I try to think out of the box.
I could we do a high deductible and plan and
catastrophic plan and have a plan of last resort. I
don't know what the answer is. I haven't been able
to come up with anything.

Speaker 9 (29:22):
Well, I think for this year, the only thing you
can do is extend for a year and then try
and figure out how you might want to fix it.
I interviewed Senator Capito earlier in the year, and she
was started going earlier this summer, started going through some
of the issues, and I'm like, well, you don't have
enough time to do that and get to open enrollment.
So for this year, I think the best bet would

(29:43):
be to extend for a year and then take a
look at it. But this country has never dealt with
the cost of healthcare. We've always hidden it, We've never
wanted to deal with it. Everybody says, well, it was
worse because the ACA. Well, I was at PA as
the director and we had the same rates of inflation
before Obamacare as they do after Obamacare. We just don't

(30:06):
deal with health care costs.

Speaker 1 (30:09):
Where Where are the healthcare costs? Where are they? Where
can we deal with them in? Is it in the insurances?
Is it in the middle between the doctor's locations? Where
is it?

Speaker 9 (30:19):
Well, for the insurance industry, they're paid as a percentage
of cost, so they have an incentive to increase the cost.
So they need to move away from a model where
they're reimbursed as a percentage of the spend. Then I
think we as Americans have to take a look at
our health care and what we do and become better shoppers.
And I think for health care claims above a certain amount,

(30:41):
maybe it's one hundred thousand, that there is a there
is some type of combined approach to pay for those.
I don't know if it's governmental, I don't if it's private.
But when you get into cancer, there's not a lot
you can do to control costs. But when it's small claims,
I think that's where you can do it. That's where
you're high deductibles. But when you get into a lot

(31:03):
of this high end stuff, it blows through deductibles, that
blows through cost containment. I think we just need to
figure out how to manage those type of conditions.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
I'm thinking out loud, So give me a little rope
in this.

Speaker 4 (31:16):
Should we have some kind of means testing that you know,
based on how wealthy you are or you're not wealthy
or whatever.

Speaker 1 (31:23):
Well, there is self insure up to whatever level. Well,
I mean in.

Speaker 4 (31:27):
Terms of that catastrophic plan you're talking about. So if
you make if you have X amount of wealth, you
got to self insure up to why versus you only
have to self insure up to zee if you have
a lesser networth I'm just thinking out loud.

Speaker 9 (31:39):
Again, I don't know. I mean, you can work through that,
but to try and like have different hands in the
manna into those large claims, and again I don't know
the proper way to do it, but I do know
that if they don't extend the ACA, there are a
lot of small business people that left large employers to
set up their own companies because they can access care.

(32:00):
There are a lot of farmers who are dependent on
the ACA for their health insurance because they can't afford
to get it on the open market. And there are
a lot of seniors who are in the gig economy
who have gone out on their own to consult that
are pre medicare and they depended on this for their
health insurance. So there's a real displacement coming. These are taxpayers,

(32:22):
These are individuals who are by definition of this program,
this is not a welfare program.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
Tom Sussman joining us, former PIA director, worked in the
Wise administration, former delegate, good old radio guy. Hey, this
is more of a rhetorical question too, because obviously you're
not in the Senate or the House representatives. But if
these expanded tax credits were so important, so critical, Why
didn't Democrats make them permanent when they passed them and

(32:50):
had the majorities in the Senate and the House. Kind
of a rhetorical question to you, But we're in this
battle they should have to begin with.

Speaker 9 (32:57):
Well, at the same reason they did the Trump tax
credits being temporary and then they made them permanent is
you've got the budget rule and they play games on
the budget rules. So we'll do it temporary and we'll
come back and renew it. But there are those people,
I think that don't want this to happen because they
don't want individuals in small businesses. They don't want the

(33:20):
gig economy. They want us all working for large corporations.
And that's where you get health insurance. Before the ACA,
people were tied to their job if they wanted to
go out and start their own business. After the ACA,
they and then had flexibility. I mean, my wife and
I we had long discussions about doing things economically and

(33:42):
making sure we had health insurance and free ACA. You
had to work, for the most part, for a large
company that provided insurance, or you were tied to your company.

Speaker 4 (33:52):
Are you surprised that more companies haven't restricted offerings and
got out of the business completely of benefits, because my
understanding is correct me if I'm wrong. That really came
about in WW two, when there were wage freezes and
price freezes that were put on by the federal government,
and employers started offering benefits as a way to attract
talent from one company to another. With something like the Marketplace.

(34:15):
I remember when it was being introduced. A lot of
the conversation in Corporate America where I was is are
we going to.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
Continue to even do this?

Speaker 4 (34:22):
And companies haven't really gone away from it, I think
as much as I thought they might. Are you surprised
by that that they just didn't get out of the
employer benefit business at all?

Speaker 9 (34:30):
Neck No, because they get a nice large corporations get
a nice tax deduction for providing health insurance that LC's
and single proprietors don't get, and it's a part to
entice people to come to work for you. A lot
of small businesses did get out of the health insurance
business and stop doing that and either reimburse their employees

(34:53):
more to go to the exchange, or if they're just
a single person proprietorship, instead of buying health insurance through
their agent, they went to the marketplace, and again it's
private insurance that pays market rates to providers.

Speaker 1 (35:08):
Tom Susman joining us WMOV radio, former Wise administration official,
former delegate as well. Is this point in the conversation,
TJ just liked her mind, we're broke, Tom, how do
we afford all this?

Speaker 9 (35:21):
Well, I mean, I guess you can say we're broke,
but these are taxpayers and you got to find a solution.
And I don't know what the solution is, but it
definitely is not going to happen between now and November first,
and so these people are going to wake up. I mean,
if there had been a discussion about how we deal
with this, how do we take care of it? Do

(35:42):
we limit some of the subsidies? But we went from
twenty thousand people on the exchange in West Virginia to
seventy thousand people on the exchange with these inhabitant tax creates.
People are expecting it to be the same level of
premium maybe ten to twelve and hire. But when they
open that computer November first and got a healthcare dot

(36:04):
gov and those rates are you know, twice, three times,
ten times, I don't know what it's gonna be significant
they're going to be upset, and they're gonna if they're
in a blue state, they're going to blame the Democrats,
And if they're in the red state, they're gonna blame
the Republicans because that's their officials. They don't get into
this whole shutdown, and who's to blame. That's all inside baseball.

Speaker 4 (36:26):
I would be much less concerned about it, Tom, to
be candid with you, if I had any confidence that
Congress could find an offset for the what is a
trillion one point five trillion that it would cost. I
just don't have any faith that Congress will be able
to do that. I mean, they can't do anything.

Speaker 9 (36:41):
But here's the problem. If you don't have health insurance,
then you show up in the emergency room as uncompensated care,
and all the other people pay it through a hidden
tax called uncompensated care, which we had a real problem
with before the ACA in West Virginia. I remember when
I was in the legislature, when I was in PA,
there was this discussion about uncompensated care. So people are

(37:06):
going to continue to get sick, now are they uninsured
and then they can't pay for the care? I mean,
what happens. Here's what's going to happen to the ACA pool.
The healthy, younger folks that are in that pool will
stop getting insurance because they're not going to pay the
additional cost. And then the folks that are going to
be less are older folks who have health care conditions,

(37:28):
and then that pool will go into what's known as
a death spiral and the rates will go through the roof.

Speaker 4 (37:34):
I mean, do you still get dinged if you don't pay?
Is there still a penalty if you don't have insurance?

Speaker 9 (37:38):
I think you are. I think that was I don't
think you do.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
Okay, Tom, here's yeah again, these are these are such
large issues it's hard to get a handle on it.
But this whole conversation, we've talked about the cost of
health insurance. We haven't talked about the cost of health
care at all. We haven't talked about how much it
actually cost to if you're in the hospital and you
get you know, you get tile and all or pain
meds while you're in the hospital. We haven't talked about

(38:02):
the cost of healthcare. We're talking about the cost of
health insurance. And in my mind, those are two different
things that coalesce together, but are separate issues here?

Speaker 9 (38:11):
Well, those are reflective of one another. Healthcare costs drive
health insurance costs or is.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
It the other way around? You know, is it the
health is it the insurance that's driving the cost of
the health care?

Speaker 9 (38:23):
Well, for the individual who's insured by the ACA, they
have a peace of mind because their children are covered,
they're covered, they have access, they can run their business,
and they don't have to worry about being uninsured. And
it prides that process. I mean, and then then you
can get back the question is healthcare right?

Speaker 1 (38:44):
You know, I want to go back to you be in.

Speaker 9 (38:48):
A situation where they have cancer and not be able
to get treatment.

Speaker 4 (38:52):
I want to go back to your first statement. You
talked about we haven't handled it in this country. How
do we get people to want to handle it? Because
I agree it needs to be handled. We need to
figure it out.

Speaker 9 (39:01):
Well, I mean, it's kind of like immigration, and I
want to go in that fight. But the Congress for
twenty some years didn't deal with it. So then we
had an administration that opened the borders. Now we administration
that's overclosing the borders, and then we've got this mess
that one wants to deal with it. Well, the same
thing's happening with healthcare. Nobody wants to deal with it
because everybody's afraid they're going to lose something. But we

(39:23):
have got to get a handle on it. The rest
of the industrialized world evidently has got it figured out,
but we're afraid to talk about it.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
I don't know if they got to figure it out.
They have their problems too, I mean, you can see
the stories coming.

Speaker 9 (39:36):
I don't think it was like the problem we've got here.

Speaker 1 (39:40):
Different problem.

Speaker 9 (39:40):
Hands are in the pot. Too many hands are in
the pot.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
Should we go a single pair?

Speaker 9 (39:46):
Either that or duel pair? I mean, when I was
at PI, I was amazed that everybody did everything the
same way. I mean, it was just it's amazing.

Speaker 12 (39:57):
Now.

Speaker 9 (39:58):
You know, I'm not going to sit here and advocate
and say why we have to have a single payer
because it's somebody else fit my tires in the car
from the health insurance industry. But the current process we
have now is nuts.

Speaker 4 (40:12):
I'm surprised by Peia when I talk to those folks,
how few people use the high deductible plan.

Speaker 9 (40:17):
To be honest, you know, you got to figure out
if you're not making a lot of money. You want
to make sure that you don't get knocked out of
a two or a three thousand dollars a healthcare bill.
You can't afford it. Now, if you're making you know,
upper figures, then maybe you can afford it.

Speaker 13 (40:37):
You know.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
Dalely brought up a good point yesterday, Tom that you know,
if you get hired as a twenty two, twenty three
year old teacher coming right out of college, you probably
don't have a good grasp of the whole health insurance process.
And when they say, hey, here's the plan. I'm on,
here's the best plan, you just check the box. You
take that plan and don't consider all the things that
you and TJ just brought up about the high deductible plan.

Speaker 9 (40:59):
I agree with you, or you say, look, I'm twenty
three years old, I'm healthy, I don't need this plan,
and don't take it. And that's they're called the young invincibles,
and they don't think they have healthcare problems until they
have one.

Speaker 1 (41:13):
I remember those days. Do you remember those days? Tom?
Ten feet tall, bulletproof?

Speaker 9 (41:18):
Yeah? And now I get up in the morning and
I'm going, where'd that eight comes from?

Speaker 1 (41:23):
That didn't hurt yesterday, No Tom's birthday.

Speaker 9 (41:27):
There's something new that hurts.

Speaker 1 (41:29):
Tom Sussman, WMOV Radio, former PEIA director. Tom always appreciate
the conversation. Thanks for hopping on today, buddy.

Speaker 9 (41:37):
Thanks sir, appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
You'all have a good day, you as well too. We'll
get a couple of texts. We'll wrap up our number one.
I think we've nailed down Ryan Schmelz. Finally, it's only
tay an hour. Stalk Limb from the Cove Insurance Studios.

Speaker 14 (41:50):
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Speaker 1 (43:14):
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(43:34):
Mega Millions is seven hundred and fourteen millions, So go
ahead play today. By the way, TJ, have you seen
the It's been going around for probably a week or so,
but the new White House meme floating around the internet.
I guess it's a meme floating around the internet. There's
a couple of them. Are you talking about the ballroom
that thing? Well, I'm talking about where they're going to

(43:56):
add a BUCkies to the east wing. That. Yeah, that's
floating around out there, only the energy. There's several variations
of it. But yeah, I refused to stop there by
the way, I've been to one. I've been there.

Speaker 4 (44:11):
I mean, okay, I mean I hear great things. I
hear the barbecue is fabulous. I'm sorry, though, a place
that has two hundred gas pumps out front and every
one of them are full in that kind of crowd,
I'm not going there.

Speaker 1 (44:24):
I'm not doing that. Just not too many people. Too
many people. Well, I guess we stopped. It was late.
We were on our actually we were driving from Murphysboro
back to Tennessee after the Marshall Game, which got delayed
this year. So it was really late, and there was
a bucket. Sobody's like, well, this seems like a good
place to stop as any Did you try the food?

(44:44):
Was it good? I just wanted to go to sleep
so at that point in the night, so you know,
it was fine. It was fine. Texter says, guys, a
private donor donated millions to be able to pay military personnel.
Ridiculous to say the least. Democrats need to quit voting,
want to open the government.

Speaker 4 (45:02):
Remember reading that, But I thought for some reason that
got hung up through being able to take the money.

Speaker 1 (45:07):
But I could be wrong. Another texter said their son
is in the military and did receive a paycheck. Well
good uh, Dear Dave and TJ. The national debt cannot
simply be remedied by balancing the budget or not running
a deficit. As long as the Treasury outsources basically the
printing of money to the Federal Reserve, the Federal Reserve
will continue to charge money for every dollar they produced. Therefore,

(45:29):
our country can never get out of the debt of
the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve regional banks are privately
owned and make up the system as a whole.

Speaker 4 (45:39):
I mean, we can get into monetary policy, we can
talk about the Fiat system of currency, but my goodness, gracious,
we have first things first.

Speaker 1 (45:45):
Just stop spending more money than you take. Baby steps
at this point, baby steps, right, I know, right? Easy?
And besides, TJ, it's only two hour show. If I
get you started on that one, we'll be listening. At
the end, we're going to have to bump Dave in
a and might run into sports line three or four
Top three H four, prive you away. Look at the

(46:07):
top ten performing healthcare systems around the world in terms
of cost, preventable deaths, and life expectancy. There are many
examples of universal healthcare in that top ten. Where are
the examples of the private sector profiteering capitalism provided healthcare
in that top ten? Asks the Texter.

Speaker 4 (46:24):
I do think there's an argument to be made about
innovation in medicine. I mean, even most of the countries
that have universal healthcare, where did they get the innovation
the American healthcare system. When's the last time someone said, Hey,
I'm going to go to this country for a world
renowned procedure. No, they go to the Mayo, they go

(46:45):
to Johns Hopkins, they go to the Cleveland Clinic.

Speaker 1 (46:47):
So there's a point there. I mean, they're coming here
to be trained from around the world. Yeah, so much
so that the Trump administration wants to throw what's the
number they want to throw in those H one? Oh yeah,
visus take it way down? Yeah, three be four talk
three before the Trump administration did away with the ACA
penalty phase of the law. Says the Texter Dave, thanks

(47:07):
for sticking to your guns with Tom. It is health
care reimbursement practices which drives the excessive charges by providers
for ten all, et cetera. We get lost in this
conversation and look again, everything's connected. Everything kind of loops back.
But are we talking about health insurance cost? We talk
about healthcare cost. It seems like those are two different
things that are interconnected. We don't talk about the actual cost.

(47:28):
We talk about, well, how much is my premiums? And look,
do we ever see the individual patients don't ever see
the money. We don't the money we're talking about for
ACA and all that that goes to the insurance companies.

Speaker 4 (47:40):
Right, It's not like it flows through you and you
turn it over. Yeah, so yeah, you're just the But
I will say this family member unfortunately hospital stay recently,
has all his medication, has it completely filled. Can't take
that medication that you've already bought and paid for into
the hospital and use it, even though it would be
the same dose, same medication. It has to come from

(48:02):
their pharmacy. Someone explained that to me.

Speaker 1 (48:06):
Shoulder shrug emoji. Can I give you that I put
you on the spot. I'm sorry you get to that point.
It was a retort. Yes, yes, I understand your point.
Davin TJ. Remember before ACA, when every store, church or
community place had many donation jars for different people needing
money for medical I do, and I remember that. He
was just talking to a friend this morning about a

(48:27):
fundraiser for someone needing a medical procedure. Still doing it,
still doing it. That hasn't changed. I get a fee
deducted from my Social Security monthly for Medicare, says the Texter.
All right, coming up second hour, we will change topics
up a little bit. Gordon Gee is going to join us.
Remember him. He used to be president for West Virginia University.

(48:49):
He had an op ed recently actually on the Fox
News website about diversity of thought on college campuses. We'll
get into that. We have tracked down Ryan Schmells. He'll
give us an update for Speaker Johnson's news conference. And
Bill Bissett. What is Bill BISSITTT and the Manufacturers Association
up to. He'll let us know. Coming up around eleven thirty,
we'll get to your text as well at three or

(49:10):
four Talk three oh four and phone calls always welcome.
Eight hundred seven to sixty five Talk eight hundred seven
sixty five eight two five five. Talk Line from the
Cove Insurance Studios continues on Metro News for forty years.
The Voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (49:34):
Metro News talk Line is presented by Incoba Insurance, encircling
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Speaker 1 (49:45):
Betcha News talk Line continuous second hour of the program.
Hope you're having a good start to your Tuesday. Bottom
of the hour, Bill Bissett will join US West Virginia
Manufacturers Association President eight hundred and seven to sixty five
Talk eight hundred seven six five eight two five five.
That is the phone number. Text line is three h

(50:05):
four Talk three four.

Speaker 9 (50:07):
TJ.

Speaker 1 (50:07):
Meadows is in Charleston Morning. Tjy Morning, Sir.

Speaker 4 (50:11):
I was taking a quick look soon confirming what I suspected.
The government is not giving interest on backpay when these
employees finally get their check. So essentially, as I said yesterday,
these employees are giving Uncle Sam an interest free loan.

Speaker 1 (50:26):
Something wrong with that absolutely a little housekeeping to take
care of. Error on the host. TJ and I we
were so enthralled, well, I was so enthralled in our
conversation affiliates down the line. We did miss that ten
fifty break. So we're going to make that up here
in the eleven o'clock hour. So just be aware that
we'll be an extra network and local break coming up

(50:48):
here in the eleven o'clock hour. Error on the host,
or we can blame Tom Tom Susman. Either way, I
apologize for that, but I want to let you guys
know down the line we will make that break up.
This all right? Last week, Gordon Gee remember him? Remember him?
He was president of course at WV spend decades in

(51:09):
higher education and penned an op ed that was on
Foxnews dot com discussing the diversity of beliefs on higher ed,
on college campuses, and in higher education, and he outlined
three ways to embrace diversity of thoughts on campus, joining
us so much a news talk line this morning, Doctor
Gordon Gee, Doctor Gay, good morning.

Speaker 10 (51:31):
Hey, good morning, David.

Speaker 17 (51:33):
How are you.

Speaker 10 (51:33):
We'll talk to you and TJ. Where's TJ? Did you
say he's in Charleston. That's right, doing the Lord's work,
I assume.

Speaker 1 (51:42):
Amen. Brother. Gee, well, first of all, what have you
been doing just taking it easy, hanging out?

Speaker 10 (51:50):
Oh yeah, you know I've been. I've been eating bomb
bonds and doing pride to you other things. Now, you know,
it's a retirement is for letter word to me. So
I decided that when I retired from the president see
that I was going to do some of the things
that I really enjoyed. So I've spent I've spent some

(52:11):
time as an executive residence at Ohio State, spend another
amount of time doing the same thing at Arizona State.
You know, I've got a couple of other projects. So
very happy, very engaged. Miss You know, I'd be really
less than honest if I didn't say I don't miss

(52:32):
the daily commerce of being a university president. After forty
five years having done it, you can imagine it's embedded
and embedded and absolutely critical in my DNA.

Speaker 1 (52:45):
You ever miss it enough to go do it again
another school?

Speaker 10 (52:49):
Oh, let me tell you, after forty five years. In
my age, they would they were the only thing that
they could do is they'd have to give me a
walker or something. I think that it would be. Now
I have done I've done my duty and feel very
very blessed to have done it. I've I enjoyed every
minute of it, every institution, every minute. You know, there

(53:10):
have been ups and downs, but that's part of leadership,
as you well know.

Speaker 1 (53:14):
Doctor Gordon Gage joining us here mentioned his talk line.
You wrote an op ed last week talking about embracing
diversity of thought on campus. You outlined three ways to
do that. But what prompted you to write this article.

Speaker 9 (53:27):
Well, I was.

Speaker 10 (53:28):
Asked to be the keynote speaker at ASKMIA, which is
the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa,
and in thinking about what I was going to do
and what I was going to say, it struck me
that this was a time to talk a little bit
more about what I believe is absolutely a critical function,

(53:50):
which is free speech on campus opening up opportunities for
people to be able to really have robust discussions. One
of the things that has concerned me, Dave, is the
fact that recent surveys, a few surveys a couple of
others show that sixty five percent of the students on

(54:11):
university campuses are afraid to say what they think sixty
five percent of the faculty are afraid to say what
they think, probably even a larger number of University of
University officers. Also, I gave the keynote address at the
Gallup Organization last year, and what I discovered was when
I became university president of nineteen eighty year, about nineties

(54:34):
to ninety five percent of the American public thought that
our education was a positive, and the latest Gallup poll
had it down to thirty five percent. The universities and
colleges have lost the trust of the American people, and
so one of the ways to reassert that is to
make sure we have full, unfettered, robust discussions across all
of the political spectrum without without any any concern from

(55:00):
people that they cannot speak up and speak out.

Speaker 4 (55:03):
So, Gordon, good on you. I agree with that wholeheartedly.
If universities are going to be that vessel, do they
have a responsibility to teach students how to do it
civilly because we've lost that in Washington, We've lost that
in public in general.

Speaker 10 (55:18):
Yeah. Well, that that's the problem, David, is the fact
that I think that university did the last bastion to
make certain that we preserve our democracy because certainly, certainly
everything is about not talking to each other, it's about
yelling to each other. I mean, if you go back,
you think about you think about Hamilton, you think about Madison,

(55:39):
you think about you know, the all of the writings
that they had with the Federalist papers and so forth.
It was all about openness and ability to be able
to think clearly and do why things. But right now,
as a political matter, we've lost a lot of that,
and so universities, in my view, really have an enormous opportunity,

(56:02):
but an enormous challenge to really reassert your role as
the stewards of democracy.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
Talking to doctor Gordon Gage joining us here, I mentioned
new talk line retired WV president. Is it something that
just kind of evolved over time where like minded people
gravitated towards kind of the same jobs. Was it a
concerted effort? How did we end up at this place
where the institutions that are supposed to be all about
challenging thought and having these discussions and embracing the things

(56:32):
you're talking about. How do we end up where that
now becomes a challenge just to do that?

Speaker 10 (56:38):
Well, you know, I have been of course in this
role for forty five years, so you can look at
me and say, you know, what have you been doing
to preserve that kind of robust conversations. I think it's
one of those things where we go through a number
of We've gone through a number of iterations, We've gone

(56:58):
through the you know, the eighties and nineties, there was
a lot of concern about whether or not people were
getting recognized appropriately, a rity of other things, you know.
I mean, THEI is part of this. Wellness is part
of us. But you know, and on the other hand,

(57:20):
when you think about a great institution like West Virginia University,
I always point out that there are so many different
points of view because we have such a large, complex institution.
Our physicians certainly have a whole different set of views,
Our engineers, you know, our folks in the humanities clearly
have very clear points of view. But that's what makes

(57:43):
our university I think, quite unique, because we do have
a lot of ideas. But still, the thing that has
concerned me is when I hear that sixty five percent
of the students are afraid to see what they think.
That means, you know, if that is the case, we
can clearly say that universities are not are not providing
the kind of educational experience and the kind of opportunities

(58:03):
for students to really think allowed about what they want
to do and what they want to say. And I
believe that that is a serious problem.

Speaker 1 (58:13):
Sixty percent. That's a startling number number one.

Speaker 4 (58:16):
But number two, does it go beyond the universities because
I'm thinking now in this day and age, if I
say the wrong thing, I can be easily fired because
my employer could be under so much pressure. I'm just
not just as a talk show host. I'm talking about
a guy that works at ACME company on whatever main street,
you know, the cancel culture.

Speaker 1 (58:34):
And then Gordon, you.

Speaker 4 (58:35):
Have the President of the United States suing news organizations
for what they say.

Speaker 1 (58:39):
I think people are chilled by all this.

Speaker 10 (58:43):
Well, we certainly are, and I think, as I say,
I think that there's I think being controlled from the
fire wings, from the from the woke left and the
woke right. People are afraid to say what they think
because all of a sudden they they're afraid of getting canceled.
I was listening today to Jake Tapper and Wise talking
about about his book and the Biden administration and and

(59:06):
and the question was asked, why didn't people speak up
in the administration about about the fact that President Biden
was having some difficulties. Well, no one dared. It's because
they didn't want to not be invited to the White House.
They didn't want to they didn't want to lose their jobs.
It's the same way now in this administration. We need
to get back to a role of common sense. One

(59:27):
of the points that I made in my in my
article is the fact that on university campuses we are
very devoted to academic freedom. But what we are not
devoted to, and what we need to return to is
academic responsibility. That all of us have responsibility for each other,
including providing the kind of information that may cut against

(59:52):
what we personally believe in, but which is important for
the body politic of an institution to be truly a university,
and a university is has to be defined as a
place in which all ideas are welcome, and which discussions
can take place, and which there's no retribution for thinking allowed,
and in which we welcome good ideas, bad ideas, irritating ideas.

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
And that kind of goes back to your first point
in the article. On that is to define what is
the mission of American universities.

Speaker 10 (01:00:19):
Gordon absolutely, absolutely, and I think that we have I
think all too often we have forgotten of what our
mission is. Our mission is about educating young people and
not so young people. Our mission is about, you know,
making certain that we that we have institutions that are
engaging in civic responsibility and civic training. You know, if

(01:00:40):
universities are the are the are the instruments for preserving
a way of life and our democracy, then we need
to act that way. I think that I think very
many times universities have become have become a negative in
their view of what has happened in the country. Right

(01:01:02):
but I think you know, our country, our country is
not perfect, but it also is not It is a
nation that is trying in so many different ways, and
right now, because of all of the turmoil, that trying
has become very, very scattered, and that's what we need
to try to recapture.

Speaker 4 (01:01:23):
You talked about ideas that irritate. Here's where it gets uncomfortable, Doc.
What about hate speech? I mean, you're you're an attorney
by trade. Yeah, Look, I may not like what somebody says.
It may be hate speech, but it's protected.

Speaker 10 (01:01:35):
I mean, we need that too, Yeah, absolutely, you know.
I mean, so I made some points about students on campus.
Isn't about the you know, about the protests, about the
encampus and so forth. My view about speech in that
regard is the fact that I believe that students ought
to have a right to free speech. I think fact

(01:01:57):
when staffs that need should have it right, but when
it infringed is on other people's free speech. The you know,
the best example is when when the student when someone
comes in to speak. Let's take Charlie Kirk an example here,
Charlie Kirk comes into campus and students stand up and

(01:02:17):
yell him down and don't let him speak. That is
that is an abrogation of free speech. They you can question,
you can think, you can say what you want to,
but in the moment when others are not allowing you
to do that, and that's where in many instances the

(01:02:37):
problems have become the encampments. Of course, we're very problematic
in terms of Jewish students. You know, I went to Columbia,
my daughter went to Columbia, and I know that situation
very very well, and there was there was anti Semitism
that is just unacceptable on a university campus.

Speaker 1 (01:02:59):
Another is just this is a common sense going and
we can use the Middle East as a perfect example.
It's one thing to have a discussion about Mid East
policy and the state of Israel, the state of Gaza.
I don't mean the state, but I mean, you know
the situation and have these riots and have these encampments
and make it and threatened vuns. Those are very very
different things. We want to get back to where we

(01:03:20):
just have And we may walk right away from the table, Gordon,
you may walk away from the table disagreeing, but we
ought to be able to have these types of discussions,
have your beliefs challenged, and the universities is where these
should be taking place.

Speaker 10 (01:03:33):
Absolutely. I mean I couldn't agree with you more, Dave.
I mean you and I are kind of a fellow
travelers here on this issue. But I but one of
the things that has become very obvious is so after
the ceasefire occurred, all of the people who were screaming,
literally screaming for a ceasefire, all of a sudden they

(01:03:53):
went silent. Why did they not applaud the you know,
the ceasefire? Did we not hear the very same people say, well,
that's great. Finally they do have a ceasefire, you know,
in other words, in other words, what is happening? People
want to have one thing happen, But there really is
a subtext all of this that is part of the

(01:04:15):
problem in terms of really a logical, intellectually rigorous kind
of conversation.

Speaker 4 (01:04:24):
Doctor Gee, I saw a picture over the weekend from
the WVU homecoming.

Speaker 1 (01:04:27):
It was yourself.

Speaker 4 (01:04:29):
It was former presidents doctor Neil Buckaloo and current presidents
doctor Benson. Just curious, what did you guys talk about?

Speaker 10 (01:04:41):
Neil and I talked about how old we have gotten,
and Michael was full of vigor and vitality. You know.
The thing about this is what I loved about that
picture was that Neil Buckley was my successor when I
left the University of nineteen eighty five, and Michael Benson,
of course is my successor, having left four or five
months ago. So it was kind of a fun picture.

(01:05:02):
One of us is very young and energetic. That's Michael.

Speaker 7 (01:05:05):
Neil and I are.

Speaker 10 (01:05:07):
Neil and I try to remember each other's names, so
it was it was fun. It was fun. It's fun
to see the history of this institution spread out across
the people you run into in many ways.

Speaker 1 (01:05:20):
Doctor Gordon, Gee, good to catch up. Good to chat again.
And if you want to find the article, you can
give it a Google. It's on foxnews dot com. Thank
you so much for joining us this morning.

Speaker 10 (01:05:29):
Thank you, my friend. Have a great day.

Speaker 1 (01:05:30):
Appreciate you absolutely you as well. Coming up, Ryan Schmels
will join us. Also a little bit of housekeeping again,
I've been informed by our executive producers we will not
make up that break that I missed in the ten
o'clock hours, so this hour is just like it would
normally be. Again, my apologies, that's error on the host.
This is talk line from the Cove Insurance Studios.

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Coming up three or four talk three oh four. Bill Bissett,
West Virginia Manufacturers Association joins us. Bottom of the hour,
Let's go to DC. Get an update from Fox News Radios.

(01:07:37):
Ryan Schmells, Ryan.

Speaker 17 (01:07:39):
Good morning, Hey, good onning, guys.

Speaker 1 (01:07:41):
Appreciate it. Speaker Johnson another daily news conference this morning.
There's some pressure from the federal government employees unions wanting
to get this shut down settled. What did he have
to say this morning?

Speaker 17 (01:07:55):
Well, I think it's kind of similar to what we
expect Speaker Johnson do he's been holding that he thinks
that this is a shutdown the needs to end right now.
And what's fascinating is that right now you saw probably
one of the biggest you know, probably updates that we've
seen since this this shutdowns began, which is that the

(01:08:17):
American Federation for Government Employees came out with a statement
saying that Republicans should support or Democrats should support the
plan to keep the to reopen the government. So this
is a major update that that could have serious implications
and maybe for pressure on Democrats to vote with Republicans
when they have this vote. Literally in the next couple
of minutes.

Speaker 4 (01:08:37):
Ryan Senator did Shelley Moore Capito from here in the
Great State saying yesterday she would vote for a snap
carve out. Are there others in Washington who share that sentiment?

Speaker 17 (01:08:46):
I think there's a lot in Washington to share that sentiment. Yes, Now,
whether there's could be enough votes to do so, that's
going to be the whole other question here. So we
don't know, you know, if that's going to happen or
when that's going to happen. You know, right now they're
going to have another vote on the cr that they've
been trying to get passed for the last couple of weeks,
and we'll see if any Democrats changed.

Speaker 15 (01:09:06):
Their mind on that.

Speaker 1 (01:09:07):
Are there any moderate Democrats or Democrats in purple states
who might be at this point thinking about coming over
and voting for the crs. Everybody just pretty well dug
in where they are a where they are.

Speaker 17 (01:09:21):
They've been digging, dugging up till this point. We have
three Democrats who've been voting with Republicans every single week,
or should I say three people who caucus with Democrats
because one of them is technically an independent. But you
know where no one's officially changed their stance yet. But
you know, when Dick Durbin, the number two Senate Democrats,
said yesterday that this could impact how things go and

(01:09:43):
also said that we were going to have discussions on
that this week, I thought that was a pretty telling statement.
So it at least looks like this may throw put
pressure on Democrats. Whether or it's going to get the
thing passed today, I don't know, but we'll find out
if anybody flips you in the next couple of minutes.

Speaker 1 (01:10:00):
Fox News Radios Ryan Schmells from Washington, d C. Ryan
always appreciate the update, even if it's a minute or
two late. That's okay, appreciate, Thank you to see Buddy
Ryan Smells, Fox News Radio, UH three or four Talk
three or four. Dave, did I did you say that
college campuses is where protests should be I may have

(01:10:20):
misunderstood if that's right or even close to what I
thought I heard. Why colleges should be left alone, Let kids,
young adults get their education, then figure out stuff later.
We lose so many good young people to extremism while
they are in college.

Speaker 8 (01:10:33):
No.

Speaker 1 (01:10:33):
I just said that's where difficult, where these discussions should
take place, not these protest campouts some of the things
you've seen on the cable news networks. I just said,
this is where you should be able to have a
challenging discussion TJ where somebody says, okay, but think about
this and you think about it. That's what I was
talking about.

Speaker 4 (01:10:51):
These kids are going to inherit our problems. Get them involved,
get them done, get them in early.

Speaker 1 (01:10:57):
They're going to inherit forty trillion problems. Exactly right right,
All right? Coming up, Bill Bissett's going to join us.
He's president of the West Virginia Manufacturers Association, and we
will get to more of your text as well. This
is talk line on Metro News for forty years, the
voice of West Virginia. It is eleven thirty in time
to get a news update. Let's check in on the

(01:11:18):
Metro News radio network. Find out what's happening across the
great state of West Virginia.

Speaker 20 (01:11:22):
West Virginia Metro News. I'm Chris Lawrence. A Michigan man
is in custody and facing charges of fleeing with reckless
indifference from two separate police agencies. Fifty nine year old
Christopher Holloway of Lansing, Michigan, was arrested this morning, charged
by Charleston Police on one morant and the Knawa County
Sheriff's Department on the other, accused of leaving both agencies
on a high speed pursued Monday night as he fled

(01:11:44):
the city's west side and got onto the West Virginia Turnpike.
Speeds there reached more than one hundred miles an hour.
Another motorists were forced off the road. He's jailed awaiting arraignment.
Police say Holloway was also on parole in Michigan and
those charges may violate that parole. Testimony continuing in a
Canawa County court today in the trial of Michael Wayne Smith,
accused of a twenty twenty one murder of Cheyenne Johnson.

Speaker 13 (01:12:05):
The day of testimony began with Jackson County Sheriff's detective
Seth Fisher, who testified to interviewing Smith as part of
the missing persons investigation into Johnson's disappearance, in which Smith
admitted to shooting Johnson in the head and dumping her
body in the well.

Speaker 1 (01:12:21):
A recording of that interview was played for the jury.

Speaker 13 (01:12:24):
And the second witness of the day, Amanda Chilson, testified
to overhearing Smith say quote they finished her in reference
to Johnson in a conversation that happened outside Chilson's home.
She later gave a tip to the Jackson County Sheriff's
Department about the possibility of Johnson's whereabouts.

Speaker 20 (01:12:41):
That is Daniel Woods reporting in Braxton County, a man
has been sentenced to fifty one to one hundred and
seventy five years for sexual assault. You're listening to Metro
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Now showing on Metro News Television, Peak Health, Your doctors
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Hope Gas present episode three of State of Minds. Tony
Coreedi visits with former WVU head coach Don Neeland.

Speaker 19 (01:13:36):
I told our guys, we're not setting our standards to
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We're setting the standards to beat Pitton State.

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State of Minds Episode three now available, presented by Hope
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Speaker 20 (01:13:52):
App PSC Cheer Charlotte Lane believes Verizon malonerates commitment to
those who still use copper wired telephone in West Virginia.
The Commission green lighted plans by Verizing to buy Frontier
in West Virginia, and Lane said it was a stipulation
of their orders.

Speaker 8 (01:14:05):
Was very important that the people in West Virginia who
have no other choice but to have a landline have
to be taken care of.

Speaker 20 (01:14:14):
Sixty million dollars has to be escrowed to help pay
for those landline customers from the Metro to use anchored
Ask guy, I'm Chris Lawrence.

Speaker 1 (01:14:39):
Text line is three or four talk three oh four.
Texter says forty trillion dollars and the billionaires have nothing
to do with it, right, Please tell the truth. Universities
are overwhelming liberal and professors and administration discourage conservative thinking.
Explains why eighty eight percent of the media votes Democrat.
It is not a both science issue. I think it

(01:14:59):
was gorgon Gee's points. Wasn't it that this should be
there should be open thought and discussion at the universities.
I think that was his point.

Speaker 4 (01:15:07):
There's a caveat in that too. Go to business school.
Go to business school and see how many professors are liberals.
I went to business school. Yeah, there's some. There are
a whole lot of conservatives too, Thank the good Lord gents.

Speaker 1 (01:15:21):
Greg Guttfeld attended Cal Berkeley says he kept his mouth
shut till he got out of there. My wife's aunt
was a professor at CAL. Wonderful lady, but wow, interesting
and detached views as the Texter. We'll get some more
of your texts coming up in just a moment. Three
or four. Talk three or four that's the text line
in eight hundred and seven sixty five. Talk is the
phone number. Bill Bissett is president's the West Virginia Manufacturer's Association.

(01:15:43):
He joins his sole metro news talk line This morning, Bill,
Good morning, Good morning, Dave. Good to see you.

Speaker 12 (01:15:50):
TJ.

Speaker 1 (01:15:50):
Appreciate you coming on this morning. You're in Kentucky. What
are you doing in Kentucky?

Speaker 21 (01:15:54):
Bill, I am in Kentucky. I'm about twotored feet from
Rubberina right now now in Lexington, Kentucky. On Monday, I
traveled to Louisville to hear Senator Capito lecture to the
McConnell's Center, which was really interesting and she did a
great job and always good to spend time with her,
and then that evening Monday evening till Wednesday. I'm going
to be at the Kentucky Association Manufacturers big meeting over here.

(01:16:19):
A lot of talk, a lot of similar talk like
we hear in Western of the connection between energy and
manufacturing and how both industries kind of help each other
and we move forward.

Speaker 4 (01:16:30):
So, Bill, you worked in Kentucky a number of years,
as did I. I'm going to go off script based
on something you just said. McConnell's seat. I think I
think the governor hops in that race, strives to do
his thing if you can't get the presidential thing going.

Speaker 21 (01:16:44):
You know, I've been asking a lot of people about that.
I kind of keep you know, growing up in Huntington,
you hear about obviously Kentucky and Ohio, especially when you're
somebody that enjoys politics like I do. There's actually a
debate at the end of this conference between the people
running for the US Senate, and I think they're going
to have pretty much every candidate on stage. Will be
interesting to see what happens. I think the race is
very much in flux. Like West Virginia, Kentucky is a

(01:17:07):
very pro Trump state. So if the president would get engaged.
That would be interesting. Polling suggests that Daniel Cameron is
in the lead right now. He's the guy that ran
as a Republican for governor last time, and he was
the Attorney general here. But as a politico here told
me Andy Barr, the congressman from Lexington, has millions in
the bank and former Attorney General Cameron has hundreds in

(01:17:28):
the bank. So you know, the thing at the end
of the day, as you and I know, is all
about money. I think Governor Basher is looking at bigger
plans to try to get to the White House, maybe
try to be that centrist candidate like Senator Mansion always
tried to be. As everybody says, when you're in the center,
you're kind of roadkilling a lot of times politically. But

(01:17:48):
I don't know if the DNC is ready for a
candidate like Andy Basheer. He's a good guy. He was
attorney general here in West Virginia, sorry in Kentucky he was.
Also he's a Democrat, and he's kind of the lone Democrat,
kind of like back home. It's amazing that West Virginia
is now more Republican than Kentucky.

Speaker 4 (01:18:04):
A Democrat that won Eastern Kentucky, no small feat he did.

Speaker 21 (01:18:09):
And you know, I think there's been a vacillation there
in Eastern Kentucky to party fillation. They were extremely against
President Obama while I was here. They are very pro Trump.
But Andy Basheer, especially with the help of Rocky Adkins
if you remember that name, if anybody knows that name
from Kentucky, who is a very good rural campaigner in
that kind of knocking on doors and playing bluegrass music

(01:18:30):
and hard to beat in a straight up fight.

Speaker 1 (01:18:33):
Bill Biz joining US President of the Westviginia Manufacturers Association.
So what are you hoping to learn that you can
bring back to West Virginia.

Speaker 21 (01:18:41):
Well, again, a lot of that discussion of energy, a
lot of that. You know, what Kentucky has done well
that we haven't done well, I think is using those
electrons at home to make things. But you know, I
would argue the future is very bright for manufacturing in
West Virginia. We're going to be making steel with new
Core and obviously Titani in with time at and they're
going to be about an hour and a half from

(01:19:02):
each other. If we have the electrons to power that industry,
not only in its existence, but also what it can
bring around it, and a lot of that will be
on that western seaboard of West Virginia, as I like
to call it. That's a big opportunity, and that's something
they've done well here, especially with aluminum, especially with automobile manufacturing,
which I think they're number two now in the country
in automobile manufacturing. So there's a lot of opportunities in

(01:19:25):
aerospace and other things. But yeah, I'm trying to soak
up a lot of information, bring it back to West Virginia,
and hopefully we can grow like they have done well
over here in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Speaker 4 (01:19:35):
I want to talk about Governor Morrissey's fifty by fifty plan.
That's fifty gigawatts by twenty fifty. Right now in the
state of West Virginia, I think we have roughly thirty
five gigawatts of power available, So we would have to
keep that intact and add the delta. Good idea, bad
idea pie in the sky. We don't have that kind
of demand here, so if we're going to use it here,

(01:19:56):
to your point, we're going to have to grow business
or we export.

Speaker 1 (01:19:58):
It right.

Speaker 21 (01:20:00):
Well, like back home in Kentucky. They're talking data center
is a great deal. And we just had a keynote
speech from a Joe Kraft, who is the CEO of
Alliance Cole and a person I used to work for
when I was in Kentucky, and he's an extremely smart
lawyer and CEO, and he sees the data center economy
that we don't fully grasp how much our lives are

(01:20:21):
going to change in a positive way, and especially the
younger folks. He sees it as the most is the
greatest opportunity for a generation in the history of this country.
Which I have tried TJ. To understand artificial intelligence. I'm
a Marshall grad. It's tough for me, but you know,
I think I'm getting a better handle on what it
means and what that opportunity is. And I think it

(01:20:42):
is kind of limitless. I don't think we know what
it means yet, but we know it's as you know, TJ,
it's going to require a tremendous amount of electricity, and
that opportunity for an energy state like West Virginia is tremendous.
And you know, I'm just hoping that we can get
that runway started because it's going to take a long
time time to build natural gas plants. It's going to
take a long time, a very long time maybe to

(01:21:03):
build nuclear plants. But at the same time, we need
to keep our cole fleet open as long as possible
and use it as much as possible, because I think
the nation's going to need electrons, but we need it
for growth here in West Virginia as well.

Speaker 1 (01:21:14):
Does that make any sense a little bit? I'm just
a Marshall grad so I'm trying to grasp that, Bill.

Speaker 21 (01:21:21):
Jeez, but making sure you're listening.

Speaker 1 (01:21:24):
Dave well as always. But you are right, and TJ's
hit this point to numerous times and knows this subject
better than you and I combined. I'm sure everything we
want to do from here on out is going to
be driven by electricity, whether that's data centers eventually vehicles. Yes,
as much as I love the Chovy small block, we're

(01:21:45):
trending toward evs or hybrid vehicles. We've got to figure
this out one way or another. And I think we
do have an opportunity Bill, how we harness that, how
we put ourselves in position. I think we have some
very critical decisions to make as a state over the next, say,
five ten years, maybe.

Speaker 21 (01:22:01):
Shorter, absolutely, and that's why I think Governor Morsey is
on track with his fifty by fifty plan. My concern
is that we're already sounding like a state, I think
because of the publicity. And I don't fault the media
for this. I think it's just there's been a loud
opposition to data centers, to transmission lines. I'm worried that

(01:22:21):
could transfer into power generation as well as manufacturing, and
I don't want.

Speaker 1 (01:22:25):
To see that.

Speaker 21 (01:22:26):
If we truly and I think we all are against
poverty and we all want to grow the population of
West Virginia, we're going to do that through economic development
and strong economic development. So I would like to see
that kind of you know, mantra that shall we say,
loud minority who seems to be against growth.

Speaker 1 (01:22:43):
We need to be for that.

Speaker 21 (01:22:44):
We need to find a way to build things that
keep people here, that grow economy, that create a better
life for West Virginians. And that's why I do what
I do, and I kind of struggle with those who
want to stand in the way of such things.

Speaker 4 (01:22:57):
I think too many people miss this point that you
just made, and this goes back to when the first
generation of coal plants were built in this state. Rather
than getting a load center here, we took all of
that cheap electricity and did what we still do today,
export it, export it. We didn't use it here. So

(01:23:19):
with this next wave of gas nuclear, the plan is good.
Fifty by fifty is good. Even if you build fifty
gigawats and we don't have that demand here, you can
still put it on the transmission network and sell it elsewhere.
So it's a good investment to make. Independent power producers
can do it. But it'd be a heck of a
lot better it would compound if we had a load

(01:23:40):
center here at the same time we're building all this generation,
and I don't think people get that, and I'm not
sure the fifty by fifty plan really does much about that.

Speaker 21 (01:23:48):
If I'm being honest, I would say the governor's plan
does talk about manufacturing everything from turbines to other necessary
items to do our generation TJ. So I think we
were very pleased to see that, and I think that's,
you know, that's a nice muscle for our economic development.
I think to say that, hey, you know, not only

(01:24:08):
can we make electrons, we can make the items you
need to make those electrons so and again with titanium
and steel. I think that's a possibility. We constantly hear that.
You know, transformers are hard to find, turbines are hard
to find. West Virginia can be part of the nation's
solution to that. But yeah, you're absolutely right. And I
think the other thing that we don't talk about that
worries me terribly, especially as a veteran, is you know,

(01:24:29):
how if this country winds up in conflict with someone
that we depend upon greatly for trade, we're in trouble
and we're gonna be in a lot of trouble and
winning that. I think data Center, I'm not gonna use
the term war, but competition has a lot of aspects
I think, to cyber defense, to military applications, to manufacturing,
to everything in our lives. So there there's kind of

(01:24:53):
a dividend here. We've got to think as well that
being a more self supportive United States goes a long way,
think not only for our national defense but our economy.
And I know we're just little West Virginia, but we
have played an important role in the past and such things,
and I think we can play an important role in
the future.

Speaker 1 (01:25:10):
Bill Bessie joining Us, President of the West Virginia Manufacturers Association.
How tough of a sales job is that when you
are trying to attract a company to locate Let's say
they're manufacturing, let's say a steel plant. For just the
conversation and they say, well, you know, we really need
this amount of power generation. Well, where we're working on that,

(01:25:31):
we're going to build that too, and we need you
and we're going to build these things together. How tough
of a sell is that to try to grow both
of these at the same time.

Speaker 21 (01:25:42):
Well, you're right on target, Dave, because that's that energy
arms race we're talking about. And when I talk to
companies from other the thing we have for us is
our history. I think we have an excellent permitting process,
our Western and DP. Our state permitting works as quickly
as possible within the letter of the law and does
great work. That is an advantage that other states don't have.

(01:26:03):
We are historically known as an energy producer, so that
gives us an advantage. We do struggle with flat land.
But now that we're a right to work state, now
that we've had these big economic wins, you know, we
need to kind of parlay those further and get other
economic wins, and I hope we do. But you bring
up a good point. I mean permitting reform. I'm tired
of saying those two words. I think Senator Capito is

(01:26:25):
two and a lot of other people. But we've got
to be a country that permits things. And this is, bypart,
is an issue. I mean, if you want an offshore
wind farm, you've got the same problems. So we've got
to be able to permit things to get them to move.
It's not at the state level, it's at the federal level.

Speaker 1 (01:26:39):
But yeah, you're right.

Speaker 21 (01:26:41):
I think it's ambitious. I love talking to It's one
of the things. I mean, if I can poach some
companies here, I'll bring them home. But you know, I
love doing that kind of work because it's the most
important work for I think for West Virginia. I always say,
you know, good job fixes a lot of things, but
you need employers to have that good.

Speaker 1 (01:26:57):
Job the very real risk.

Speaker 4 (01:27:00):
And I'm thinking about Southern Company and what they did
in Georgia with their new plant. I think eight years
to get the first unit online, and a huge chunk
of that, like four years or better, was the permitting process.
So the risk then becomes, we can't build these fast,
these plants quick enough because we have too many headwinds
in Washington. The technology gets better and it uses less energy,

(01:27:24):
and the next thing, you know, we're just getting these
plants online. Now people are stuck paying for them. We
got to figure out a way to your point, especially
in Washington. I mean, it cannot take four years to
get a permit to build a power plant.

Speaker 1 (01:27:35):
That's that's just nuts, absolutely nuts.

Speaker 21 (01:27:40):
Yeah, especially with the you know, the cliff that's coming TJ.
I think that's what we're all worried about. And I'll
be honest, you know, today's point. Existing manufacturers are a
little concerned about how I mean, they've talked to me,
how am I going to power my company when we
have this new data center thing coming on?

Speaker 1 (01:27:57):
You know, I mean.

Speaker 21 (01:27:58):
Obviously self interest needs a lee and they want their
electrons to be able to do what they do because
every form, you know, coal mining, requires a lot of electricity.
I mean, it all kind of compounds each other. So yeah,
you're absolutely right, that is too long of a runway.
How we expedite that, you know, I hate to use
the word national emergency, because I know that's thrown around
politically a lot, but I think we're getting there. I

(01:28:19):
think this, you know there all we need is another
technological breakthrough which is not impossible, that creates a greater
energy demand. I mean, that's that's the constant is innovation.
And so you know, I'm I'm very concerned and I
think at some point, especially and I think this a lot,
when it affects individuals, that's where people get mad.

Speaker 10 (01:28:37):
You know.

Speaker 21 (01:28:38):
I'm not trying to rumor brownouts or blackouts or anything
like that. But when John Q public is like, why
is this happening, that's when the political will tends to,
you know, appear.

Speaker 1 (01:28:48):
He is. Bill Bissity is president to the West Virginia
Manufacturers Association, even though he's in Kentucky today. Bill always
appreciate it, buddy, thanks for joining us. Good conversation, Bring
back some good bourbon. Bill bission Yes, sir, I got it.
He's got your TJ. Bill Bissett, President West Vinia Manufacturers Association,

(01:29:08):
got to take a break back in the moment. This
is talk line from the ing Co Insurance Studios.

Speaker 22 (01:29:13):
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Speaker 6 (01:30:14):
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Speaker 1 (01:31:05):
A couple of texts three or four Talk three four
David TJ. Respectfully. American society has been dependent on electricity
for one hundred years. Now more electricity is needed so
AI can be developed further, so it can reduce the workforce,
which reduces labor cost corporations, which ultimately puts more money
in ceed suite and shareholder's pockets. Don't laugh. We need

(01:31:26):
more electricity so the wealthy, so the wealthy can become wealthier. Sales.

Speaker 4 (01:31:30):
The text the AI boogeyman is coming for our jobs,
just like the PC. The personal computer was going to
take everybody's jobs, just like every other bit of technology
was going to put people out of work.

Speaker 1 (01:31:42):
No, it didn't happen.

Speaker 4 (01:31:44):
The people that made this stuff thought it would give
us more leisure time. No, we just work more.

Speaker 1 (01:31:49):
Jobs will just evolve, They evolve.

Speaker 4 (01:31:52):
Yeah, go somewhere, I don't care if it's a grocery
store or you're making aluminum with an arc furnace. Go
somewhere that doesn't use electricity. Try to find a job
in some place that does use electricity. They gonna happen.
Your point been around. We need it. But this whole
AI boogeyman thing, I just I don't know. I don't
buy into that, do you.

Speaker 19 (01:32:11):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:32:12):
I did. Let me, Okay, I admit I did. I did.
But you know, think back to I look at AI
now the way probably folks were looking at the Internet
in nineteen ninety seven. Come back, you know, mid nineties.
You knew the internet was going to be a thing.
It was going to revolutionize our lives, revolutionize the way

(01:32:32):
we shop, the way we do business, the way we
stay in touch with people, all the above. Right, we
didn't know how it was going to do that yet,
but it did. Same thing with AI. AI is going
to change the way we do business, the way we
do research, the way we the way we manufacture, how's.

Speaker 7 (01:32:49):
It going to do that?

Speaker 1 (01:32:50):
I have no idea, but I know it's going to DJ.
I know it's going to require a lot of electricity
to do that too. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:32:56):
And if you put ten people on chat GEEP and
you give them a mission, you're going to get ten
very different results. Some of them are going to be outstanding,
some of them are going to suck. And the reason is,
it's all about the prompt. It's all about what the
human does to make the tool work. Put a paintbrush
in my hand, that's scary. No one's going to want

(01:33:18):
to buy that art. But put it in the right
person's hand, It'll sell for thousands of dollars.

Speaker 1 (01:33:22):
It's the same. It's a tool, that's all. It is,
nothing more, nothing less. Three or four Talk three or
four is the text line. We will take the final break,
final call for text, final call for phone calls talk
line from the Encode Insurance Studios.

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Speaker 6 (01:34:38):
Looking for a big new game to play. Well, there's
no game bigger than the new Dino sized Jurassic World
scratch off game from the West Virginia Lottery, which gives
you a chance to win up to fifty thousand instantly.
And if that weren't enough, you can enter in our
app for a chance to win a trip to Hawaii
where you could win up to one million dollars. So

(01:34:58):
get down to your local lot retailer today and welcome
to Jurassic World. Must be eighteen year older to play
play responsibly.

Speaker 1 (01:35:27):
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million dollars. Mega Millions jackpot is seven hundred and fourteen millions,
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(01:36:11):
the Dodgers and Blue Jays, and she said, the game's
still going on. I said, you gotta be kidneying. It
was tied when I went to bed time five, and
I got up just in time Freddie Freeman's coming to bat.
Got to see the walk off homer, and what blew
my mind. Just about all fifty two thousand fans were
still in the ballpark on their feet six and a

(01:36:31):
half hours later. Love postseason baseball nothing wait to start
your day, right unless you're a Blue Jays fan. And well,
Otani's on base nine times and he's going to pitch tonight.
Love it, TJ Joy, It's talk line. Metion New is
the voice of West Virginia.

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