WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.600 --> 00:00:06.519 Obviously, our president is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and a 2 00:00:06.559 --> 00:00:11.400 lot of US conservatives have theorized about like who is actually running things? Is, 3 00:00:11.560 --> 00:00:15.800 like, how much is President Biden actually in the day to day actually 4 00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:24.000 running the show? Here the transcript of his interview with Special Counsel her was 5 00:00:24.039 --> 00:00:28.519 a real indication. Really, if you want to get a sense of just 6 00:00:28.600 --> 00:00:32.439 how kind of not with it Biden is, you should read that transcript, 7 00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:35.960 and it's publicly available. I mean, he's he's not there. I mean 8 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:42.039 he's being like, he gets asked a question, he starts going off on 9 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:47.039 tangents. He can't kind of expand and contract his answers in a way that's 10 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:51.840 actually responsive to what he's being asked. He's all over the place. He 11 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:57.439 starts talking about his like corvette at one point during the transcript in a way 12 00:00:57.479 --> 00:01:02.960 that has nothing to do with anything and makes room room sounds like that that's 13 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:08.319 actually in the transcript that he says vroom vroom. So a lot of us 14 00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:11.760 have theorized how much is he actually running things? I think this might be 15 00:01:11.799 --> 00:01:19.120 a proposal that he himself is in on, because it's the same kind of 16 00:01:19.560 --> 00:01:23.319 bad ideas he seems to really cling to, Like it's some of the things 17 00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:27.159 that, like his Inflation Reduction Act, he was able to sort of grasp 18 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:33.319 and have some kind of understanding or we're playing for stuff, we're helping helping 19 00:01:33.319 --> 00:01:38.319 out with inflation. So there's a couple of pieces I read in National Review 20 00:01:38.599 --> 00:01:45.680 that we're going over this Biden's latest housing proposal. How can President Biden help 21 00:01:45.719 --> 00:01:53.159 out the American prospective home buyer? How can President Biden help increase the housing 22 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:59.920 supply? Obviously big problem here in California. We got a lot of new 23 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:05.480 Man we don't have enough supply. Now, Liberals in our state government kind 24 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:14.039 of refuse to look at engage with like all of the range of options for 25 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:16.000 how to actually fix the housing problem, Like get rid of a bunch of 26 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:21.360 California environmental regulation, get rid of Sequel, blah blah blah blah blah. 27 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:25.120 So that's fine over there in California. But this is President Biden. President 28 00:02:25.199 --> 00:02:34.520 Biden trying to solve a problem for a Biden's latest housing proposal is so stupid, 29 00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:44.280 It's so obviously inflationary that it bears the hallmarks of that razor sharp intellect 30 00:02:44.360 --> 00:02:51.360 that currently resides at sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue. So here's the piece from National 31 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:55.039 View. This is there editorial about it. During the pandemic, rock bottom 32 00:02:55.039 --> 00:03:00.120 interest rates and a desire for more space drove a rapid and stunning rise in 33 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:05.159 housing prices. Thank god the Girardi's bought their house in twenty nineteen, not 34 00:03:05.159 --> 00:03:08.240 twenty twenty. While prices have moderated from their peak, they have not done 35 00:03:08.280 --> 00:03:12.879 so nearly enough to make up for the more than doubling of borrowing costs. 36 00:03:13.240 --> 00:03:16.360 President Biden says he has a solution, but like most forms of government interference, 37 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:21.159 it would only make the problem worse. Yeah, Nation, classic National 38 00:03:21.159 --> 00:03:23.159 Review. I'll government interference is bad, all right. During the State of 39 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:28.680 the Union address, Biden unveiled a plan to this is just so great, 40 00:03:28.759 --> 00:03:31.039 Like people can't afford things, Just have the government print and give them more 41 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:36.879 money. That definitely won't have an inflationary impact on the economy. During the 42 00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:42.319 State of the Union address, Biden unveiled a plan to give home buyers four 43 00:03:42.439 --> 00:03:47.479 hundred dollars per month for mortgage payments over the next two years. Quote as 44 00:03:47.879 --> 00:03:57.120 mortgage rates come down end quote it didn't take long for most people with a 45 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:00.719 basic understanding of economics or an ounce of common sense to recognize that government subsidies, 46 00:04:01.159 --> 00:04:04.840 especially during a time of falling interest rates, would lead to more demand 47 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:11.680 and thus even higher housing prices. So yeah, like anyone with a brain 48 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:15.879 in their head could see what's gonna happen here If you're just giving people four 49 00:04:15.959 --> 00:04:21.120 hundred dollars extra a month, it's not like no other market forces recognize that 50 00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:28.959 this is happening. If that happens, guess what Housing prices will just go 51 00:04:29.160 --> 00:04:32.920 up. The average cost of a mortgage in count let's say, California, 52 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:38.360 will probably increase by about, uh, I don't know, four hundred dollars 53 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:48.800 dedli and it continues, it continues. Not only are we going to do 54 00:04:48.839 --> 00:04:57.519 that? Basically, they've discovered the issue, the Girardi family issue that people 55 00:04:57.560 --> 00:05:03.480 who did buy at good interest rates are clinging onto their houses like grim death 56 00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:08.480 because they don't want to sell, They don't want to be they don't want 57 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:12.959 to exchange their you know, three and a half percent interest rate mortgage for 58 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:17.759 a new, shiny eight and a half percent interest rate mortgage. So how 59 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:25.639 do we get these greedy sons of guns who bought their houses at those low 60 00:05:25.639 --> 00:05:28.360 interest rates, How do we get them to sell to free up to loosen 61 00:05:28.439 --> 00:05:34.800 up, loosen up supply in the market. Well, here's President Biden with 62 00:05:34.839 --> 00:05:42.600 a brilliant way of solving this. Biden wants to offer up to ten thousand 63 00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:47.800 dollars up to ten thousand dollars per year in tax credits to those who sell 64 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:56.240 their starter homes and purchase new homes with higher rate mortgages. This, the 65 00:05:56.240 --> 00:06:03.160 theory goes, would help unlock inventory again, though all you'd be doing is 66 00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:09.480 so if the idea is for me, Okay, I've got a house that 67 00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:14.759 I bought for around in twenty nineteen. It was around three hundred and fifteen 68 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:19.279 thousand dollars. Okay, I got a mortgage at three and a half percent. 69 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:28.639 If I were to buy another house, presumably it would be a nicer 70 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:36.120 house. So one the market has increased substantially, So my current three hundred 71 00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:39.199 and fifteen thousand dollars house, I don't know what it's worth now. I 72 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:43.720 think it's probably worth around four hundred and fifty at this point. So my 73 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:47.560 current house is worth like four to fifty, Meaning any house that's nicer than 74 00:06:47.560 --> 00:06:54.240 this, i'd estimate I don't know. Probably i'd been now in the six 75 00:06:54.319 --> 00:06:59.000 hundred range at least, I don't know if it. I mean, I'm 76 00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:02.839 not going to just move. I'm not just gonna move to another house that's 77 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:09.279 equally nice just to get myself a higher interest rate for no reason. No, 78 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:13.480 presumably, if you're gonna encourage first time home buyers to get out of 79 00:07:13.519 --> 00:07:19.759 their starter homes, then you're gonna you're expecting them to buy something more expensive. 80 00:07:20.040 --> 00:07:24.959 So giving them ten thousand dollars extra per month, what's that gonna do. 81 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:30.439 That's just gonna be inflationary again for houses in that second tier up, 82 00:07:30.680 --> 00:07:34.480 like the next tier, nicer than starter homes, that's just gonna make their 83 00:07:34.519 --> 00:07:40.120 costs more inflationary because people selling it will know, oh, well, they're 84 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:43.160 gonna be doing that government program where Biden is gonna give them, you know, 85 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:48.120 ten thousand dollars per year extra. So that'll just jack up the price 86 00:07:48.160 --> 00:08:00.879 of those houses even more. So, this is the stud but his idea 87 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:07.360 possible. So why is you really doing it now? You look at the 88 00:08:07.399 --> 00:08:13.519 makeup of Congress right now. Obviously it's a Republican control, barely Republican controlled. 89 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:18.680 House representatives right now which I'd love to talk about that later. Marjorie 90 00:08:18.680 --> 00:08:24.240 Taylor Green immediately trying to have a motion to kick Mike Johnson out of the 91 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:30.199 speakership almost makes me wonder if people like me were right all along that kicking 92 00:08:30.199 --> 00:08:33.159 out Kevin McCarthy in the first place was not a very smart idea. It's 93 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:35.120 all the same problems that we're there with McCarthy, They're all still going to 94 00:08:35.159 --> 00:08:39.639 be there. It's not like every single person we make speaker is just a 95 00:08:39.720 --> 00:08:48.480 liberal in Republican clothing. Like anyway, we have a Republican House, the 96 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:54.279 Senate, Republicans can block stuff with the filibuster. This crazy idea has no 97 00:08:54.399 --> 00:09:01.000 chance of passing, certainly not in an election year. What's this about? 98 00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:07.639 I mean, I think this is President Biden trying to throw, you know, 99 00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:13.360 throw spaghetti against the wall and see what sticks. He's losing. Like 100 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:22.080 if if the polls that exist right now are accurate, which they're not, 101 00:09:22.120 --> 00:09:24.879 but let's assume for the sake of argument, they were accurate. If the 102 00:09:24.919 --> 00:09:31.639 polling is all accurate and we voted today, Donald Trump would win. So 103 00:09:31.320 --> 00:09:37.639 I think what Biden is trying to do is to either genuinely give away the 104 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:46.960 store in anything that he has control over with giving people free money or throw 105 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:54.480 out proposals that sound to idiots like he is giving to idiots and economic illiterates 106 00:09:56.080 --> 00:10:03.879 that sound like he is giving away free money, and thereby to claim the 107 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:11.240 votes of the gullible bread and circuses. That's what we're doing here. And 108 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:15.759 I got to say, this is the This is kind of the outcome that 109 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:22.159 certain people, some more intelligent observers, were afraid of. I sort of 110 00:10:22.200 --> 00:10:26.799 mentioned sort of some fear of this, like during COVID, when all of 111 00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:30.440 a sudden, we had the idea of straight up cash payments to people, 112 00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:35.600 and there was some sort of theoretical idea that like, hey, like a 113 00:10:35.639 --> 00:10:39.639 lot of people were put out of work by these restrictions that the government imposed. 114 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:45.919 You know, maybe there's some way of compensating helping helping people out. 115 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:52.559 Okay, But straight up cash payments from the government to people. Obviously, 116 00:10:52.679 --> 00:11:00.320 that's both economically dangerous and inflationary. So Trump did it, and then Iden 117 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:03.159 did it again, and California did it, and then all of a sudden, 118 00:11:03.159 --> 00:11:09.759 wow, we have inflation. What a shock. So it's obviously there's 119 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:15.559 this inflationary effect. But I think there's also this threat when it comes to 120 00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:26.480 elections that basically the election contest can turn into this insane just I'm offering people 121 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:28.559 this much money. Oh, I'm going to offer people this much money. 122 00:11:28.600 --> 00:11:35.039 And that's always I think that's always a problem for Republicans is that no Republican 123 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:39.360 will ever beat a Democrat ever in a game of how much can I give 124 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:43.759 away to the voters. No Republican has ever beat a Democrat in how much 125 00:11:43.879 --> 00:11:48.759 money he can give away. No Republican ever will beat a Democrat in that 126 00:11:48.840 --> 00:11:52.440 game. I don't know, maybe Trump can, but pretty much, no 127 00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:56.879 Republican, no other Republican in all of human history, has ever won that 128 00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:05.240 game against a Democrat. So I don't know that. Obviously this is a 129 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:11.360 ludicrously stupid proposal on Biden's part, But I don't know that it was necessarily 130 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:16.120 intended to be serious. But you know, I don't know. Maybe Biden 131 00:12:16.200 --> 00:12:20.039 is such an ill I mean, Biden was not exactly you know, the 132 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:26.360 bulb was not exactly burning brightly when Biden was at his peak, you know, 133 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:33.519 let alone today when that bulb is dimming quite a bit. So maybe 134 00:12:33.559 --> 00:12:37.240 this is a kind of policy that he actually thinks is a sort of solid 135 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:39.679 thing. I mean, God knows, there have been Democrats who have seriously 136 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:43.600 proposed stuff like this before, So I don't know. I don't know how 137 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:50.720 serious he is. I do think though, that the main thing that's motivating 138 00:12:50.759 --> 00:12:56.120 this is not so much concern for home buyers, Like if you were actually 139 00:12:56.159 --> 00:13:01.480 concerned for home buyers, there are things you could do. Maybe it has 140 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:07.519 to be more at the level of individual state governments, you know. You 141 00:13:07.559 --> 00:13:11.440 know, we'll talk in the next segment about problems in California and then how 142 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:16.679 you know, the problems there have to do with all these kinds of liberal 143 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:20.360 environmental regulation that liberals don't want to touch. So I think what's happening here 144 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:24.759 for the most part, though, is President Biden wants to give away the 145 00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:28.320 store, give away as much money as possible to buy as many votes as 146 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:31.000 he can. Will it work? I don't know. I mean, this 147 00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:35.399 is not actually going to get very serious debate in Congress. Whatever the merits 148 00:13:35.399 --> 00:13:39.399 of this proposal, you know, I can't see the Senate passing it. 149 00:13:39.080 --> 00:13:43.399 Maybe they think they could get some Republicans to vote no on it in the 150 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:46.200 Senate and then use that to run against the Oh, he voted against lowering 151 00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:50.840 the cost of housing. I guess I could see some ads like that. 152 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:54.720 Anyway, when we return, we'll talk about this a little bit more in 153 00:13:54.799 --> 00:14:00.000 the California context. We'll talk about we Hey, why is it so exped 154 00:14:00.120 --> 00:14:03.639 so so difficult for builders to build? That's next on the John Girardi Show. 155 00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:11.600 President Biden has his insane proposal for how to fix the housing problem nationwide. 156 00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:16.559 Oh, it's easy. We'll just give people four hundred bucks permontent facts 157 00:14:16.600 --> 00:14:20.000 try to help them pay their mortgage payments. Yeah, that definitely won't result 158 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:26.000 in an inflation to the market and just making the average cost of a mortgage 159 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:31.159 that someone gets about four hundred dollars more expensive. But I think a lot 160 00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:35.279 of the problems with housing, as they exist in different parts of the country, 161 00:14:35.320 --> 00:14:37.919 it's at the level of the state. And certainly that's the problem here 162 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:43.919 in California. What's our fundamental problem supply and demand. We have way more 163 00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:52.960 demand for housing then we have supply. Builders can't build enough supply to meet 164 00:14:52.039 --> 00:15:01.600 the demand. And as much as the liberals who control the state legislat and 165 00:15:01.639 --> 00:15:05.559 they do control it, like absolutely control, they don't have to listen to 166 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:11.200 Republicans for anything. They just if Democrats make a decision, the decision is 167 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:13.080 made. They have three quarters of all the seats in both houses of the 168 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:18.120 legislature, So you know, Republicans can't block anything. There are certain things 169 00:15:18.360 --> 00:15:24.320 Republicans could block if they had one third of the votes. There's certain things 170 00:15:24.440 --> 00:15:28.200 that the majority can only pass with a two thirds majority. Republicans don't even 171 00:15:28.279 --> 00:15:33.360 have a fourth. For those of you from Rial Linda, one fourth is 172 00:15:33.399 --> 00:15:41.639 smaller than one third. Now, one of those things is SEQUA, the 173 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:48.559 California Environmental Quality Act. And this is just kind of a great example of 174 00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:52.799 the ways in which California just makes it difficult to build anything. So SEQUA, 175 00:15:56.320 --> 00:16:00.159 let's look up all handy Wikipedia. SEQUA is a California statute passed in 176 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:07.720 nineteen seventy, signed into law by then Governor Reagan, ah shortly after the 177 00:16:07.799 --> 00:16:12.840 United States federal government passed the National Environmental Policy Act. Ronald Reagan not a 178 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:21.279 very conservative governor, gotta say the institute's statewide policy of environmental protection. SEQUA 179 00:16:21.320 --> 00:16:25.639 does not directly regulate land uses, but instead require state and local agencies within 180 00:16:25.720 --> 00:16:30.919 California to follow a protocol of analysis and public disclosure of environmental impacts of proposed 181 00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:34.600 projects, and in a departure from the federal legislation like this, the National 182 00:16:34.679 --> 00:16:42.919 Environmental Policy Act adopt all feasible measures to mitigate those impacts. SEQUA makes environmental 183 00:16:42.919 --> 00:16:48.960 protection a mandatory part of every California state and local agencies decision making process. 184 00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:57.720 Now, the main thing that it does is basically it the main way in 185 00:16:57.799 --> 00:17:10.599 which it harms new housing developments is that it allows basically anyone with a grievance 186 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:18.720 against a quote public project, And the California Supreme Court broadened the definition of 187 00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:23.480 what's a public project for a development that needs government approval, so basically it 188 00:17:23.519 --> 00:17:32.920 includes housing projects. So basically, anyone who's got a grievance against some big 189 00:17:33.160 --> 00:17:41.960 housing development can file a lawsuit and the and they're based in the alleged environmental 190 00:17:41.960 --> 00:17:48.880 harm that this housing development, this bunch of condos, whatever it is, 191 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:53.720 is going to cause. And this is one of the main this is just 192 00:17:53.839 --> 00:17:56.759 a factor. There are a lot of factors. Now you have to put 193 00:17:56.799 --> 00:18:00.599 solar panels on every new house you constructing California, or of a new housing 194 00:18:00.680 --> 00:18:03.480 unit you construct in California. Now you got to do this. There's a 195 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:08.519 lot of things that make the couse of housing new housing more expensive in California, 196 00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:14.680 but Sequa's a big one because of the threat of lawsuits. And these 197 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:25.880 lawsuits can either massively slow down a project or just outright kill them. And 198 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:32.400 as a result, builders are understandably leary, like, Okay, I've got 199 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:37.279 this big plot of land here, do I want to build? Do I 200 00:18:37.319 --> 00:18:45.160 want to build housing for lower income persons? Well, basically, SEQUA all 201 00:18:45.160 --> 00:18:51.759 these other regulations make it such that it's just not profitable to do It's just 202 00:18:51.799 --> 00:18:53.359 not profitable to do. So the only way you can do it is with 203 00:18:53.680 --> 00:19:03.960 massive California state subsidized subsidization. And here's here's what tends to happen. And 204 00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:08.519 I've seen this more and more and more so living out in Clovis. I've 205 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:15.720 been noticing a couple of different construction projects around for like condos, condos, 206 00:19:15.799 --> 00:19:25.640 like multi multi unit, multi unit dwelling entities. So this this plot's being 207 00:19:25.640 --> 00:19:30.039 developed for with you know, one hundred and fifty condos, and they're like 208 00:19:30.839 --> 00:19:34.680 very expensive looking. They're they're they're super nice looking. These are expensive condos. 209 00:19:34.680 --> 00:19:41.079 This is not lower income housing by any stretch, like it seems like 210 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:45.000 the kind of thing that like, I don't know, a single like nurse 211 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:48.480 making one hundred and ten thousand dollars per year, Like maybe that's something she 212 00:19:48.519 --> 00:19:56.240 would get for herself. Or you know a young guy who's I don't know, 213 00:19:56.279 --> 00:20:00.720 maybe a junior, a younger associate at an accounting firm who's making you 214 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:03.200 know, eighty or ninety thousand dollars, that's that's where he would live. 215 00:20:03.319 --> 00:20:07.079 Or I don't know, a divorced lawyer, a divorced lawyer with a lot 216 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:11.119 of money. Okay, he's gonna live here. But it's it's higher end. 217 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:17.559 This is not like it's not like oh, this person someone who works 218 00:20:17.559 --> 00:20:21.200 at a convenience store. No, this is not lower income housing. It's 219 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:26.920 very high yet it's not even necessarily middle class housing, like a middle class 220 00:20:26.920 --> 00:20:32.599 family could not live here. And why is it so the only things that 221 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:38.000 seem to be getting Well, here's why builders aren't gonna build, because of 222 00:20:38.039 --> 00:20:41.480 all the risk involved, because of all the cost involved. Builders aren't gonna 223 00:20:41.480 --> 00:20:47.000 build unless they can be assured there's some return on investment that they're likely to 224 00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:53.720 get. So, if you're gonna build a big condo, a big you 225 00:20:53.720 --> 00:21:00.799 know, multi resident dwelling thing, not houses, but like condo's apartments whatever. 226 00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:04.559 You really only have two options for how this thing is going to be 227 00:21:06.200 --> 00:21:12.440 viable or profitable for you. You either make it super high end where all 228 00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:18.079 the units are going for you know, primo, primo, big bucks, 229 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:26.519 or you make it a California lower income housing registered trademark development where the state 230 00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:40.000 will subsidize you. But there's not really anything for middle class housing. And 231 00:21:40.039 --> 00:21:47.759 that's the problem that this is another thing that contributes to inflation. Basically, 232 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:52.640 if the only new housing that can be built is designed for either high end 233 00:21:52.680 --> 00:21:59.640 buyers or low end buyers, it just keeps bumping up the costs for middle 234 00:21:59.680 --> 00:22:02.960 classs. It makes it just more and more difficult and shrinks and shrinks and 235 00:22:02.960 --> 00:22:08.160 shrinks the supply of affordable housing for middle income buyers. And then the people 236 00:22:08.200 --> 00:22:12.079 who have those houses that are in the sort of right range, who sort 237 00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:17.920 of look over towards North Fresno, look over towards bougier northern parts of Clovis 238 00:22:17.960 --> 00:22:22.400 and say, boy, I could never afford a house over there. You 239 00:22:22.440 --> 00:22:29.000 know, I'm not selling my nice, you know, mid sized middle class 240 00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:30.920 home here in Fresno. I'm not selling this thing for all the tea in 241 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:34.119 China. I'm holding onto this like grim death. I had that nice. 242 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:40.519 You know, my mortgage is mostly paid off. I'm not moving. So 243 00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:44.640 this is the problem that a lot of so much of this environmental break Like 244 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:49.319 liberals are just so confounded. How come there's no how come people aren't built? 245 00:22:49.359 --> 00:22:53.519 They're just not building. If only there was one party that like could 246 00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:56.960 control the legislature and change the laws to change the conditions for this. But 247 00:22:57.160 --> 00:23:02.200 they're so beholden to the environ mental lobby that they're not going to change it. 248 00:23:02.920 --> 00:23:07.119 When we return, I delve into the question of Valley Children's and the 249 00:23:07.160 --> 00:23:15.640 alleged the allegations of excessive executive pay. That's next on the John Girardi Show. 250 00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:19.079 There's been a big brew haha over the last four or five days about 251 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:27.839 Valley Children's Hospital, and the focus of attention is on the compensation received by 252 00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:34.440 some of its executive team, but most particularly the CEO of Valley Children's, 253 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:45.680 Todd Centrapak. Now, someone may accuse John Girardi of all people of being 254 00:23:45.720 --> 00:23:49.200 a little biased here. I love Valley Children's Hospital. My dad was a 255 00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:57.400 surgeon there for thirty one years. You know, I'm probably leery of criticizing 256 00:23:57.440 --> 00:24:04.359 it too much, but I find that two things are sort of motivating me 257 00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:11.240 here. One is I have this kind of instinct from a little bit of 258 00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:15.079 time as a lawyer anyway, that I have this instinct of being leary when 259 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:22.039 only one side of the argument has presented the facts and laid out the facts. 260 00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:27.119 I remember this in law school. I remember this in law school where 261 00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:30.559 we would do these like mock trial things, and they would have like a 262 00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:34.480 fake set of facts and then a fake you know, it's a pretend trial 263 00:24:34.519 --> 00:24:40.000 obviously, so they put together fix set effects and then a presentation effects by 264 00:24:40.279 --> 00:24:41.680 the one party and presentation of the facts by the other party. And I 265 00:24:41.720 --> 00:24:45.799 read by the one party, I'm like, boy, this is just seems 266 00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:51.160 like this side has it completely slam dunk totally. Obviously this side should win. 267 00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:52.480 Then I read the other side and I'm like, oh, it seems 268 00:24:52.519 --> 00:24:57.440 completely like this side should win. Now, obviously that was a well written, 269 00:24:57.680 --> 00:25:02.119 you know, fake trial. But I found that to be true. 270 00:25:02.119 --> 00:25:04.240 Also in my legal practice, very often i'd read one side's presentations of the 271 00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:07.839 facts and I'd think there is no way this other side has any merit to 272 00:25:07.880 --> 00:25:10.880 what they're saying whatsoever. And then I'd read the other side, I'm like, 273 00:25:10.920 --> 00:25:14.680 oh, okay, well this is pretty good. I remember this even 274 00:25:14.839 --> 00:25:25.440 during the Kavanaugh hearings, and there was some conservative commentator I think it might've 275 00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:30.799 been Ben Shapiro or somebody who made a clown of himself, because it was 276 00:25:30.839 --> 00:25:37.039 like for the I think I remember it was the exact same day that Christine 277 00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:41.839 Blasi Ford testified, and then just like I think it was like an hour 278 00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:48.559 or so later, Brett Kavanaugh testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee and 279 00:25:48.680 --> 00:25:55.200 Ford testified, and we hadn't heard Kavanaugh yet, we hadn't heard his side 280 00:25:55.240 --> 00:26:00.359 of it yet. All we had was Ford her side of it, and 281 00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:04.400 a bunch of conservative commentators, including Shapiro, said, the Kavanaugh nomination is 282 00:26:04.400 --> 00:26:08.000 over. They need to give up. There's no way he could recover from 283 00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:11.319 this. Well, and then Kavanaugh came up to testifying, he was actually 284 00:26:11.359 --> 00:26:15.559 pretty compelling. It was like, oh, okay, well, maybe what 285 00:26:15.640 --> 00:26:19.319 we should have done was here both sides of it first before rushing to judgment. 286 00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:23.039 After hearing the first side, there's that, and then there's also this. 287 00:26:23.240 --> 00:26:33.799 I hate the easy pious answer. I hate the easy pious answer. 288 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:40.440 A story comes out about Todd Sunchripack's CEO of Children's making more money on average 289 00:26:40.519 --> 00:26:45.960 than the CEOs of other children's hospitals. And who's there riding in on his 290 00:26:47.039 --> 00:26:51.799 white horse but Merrick Worzowski from the Fresno Bee, always willing to take whatever's 291 00:26:52.039 --> 00:26:57.079 either the liberal position or the sort of self offended position. And I also 292 00:26:57.160 --> 00:27:02.960 noticed some of the you know, I love Gary Brettefeld. I've supported Gary 293 00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:07.079 Brettefeld. I think he's the best person on the president of city Council. 294 00:27:07.119 --> 00:27:12.920 I think he gets a bad rap often for you know, these people act 295 00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:18.960 like he's just totally just a pure conservative fire brand lunatic, and I don't 296 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:21.200 think that. I think he's actually a very smart man. I think he 297 00:27:21.319 --> 00:27:26.559 actually is very responsible city councilman, and I really value his work. But 298 00:27:27.799 --> 00:27:32.680 I think some of his critiques here were wrong. I think, for one 299 00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:37.160 thing, he's sort of in his press conference talking about this, he wound 300 00:27:37.240 --> 00:27:42.799 up turning it into a criticism of Lisa smit Camp the DA because smit Camp 301 00:27:42.920 --> 00:27:48.119 is on one of the boards of Valley Children's But smit Camp is not on 302 00:27:48.200 --> 00:27:55.839 a board that does anything to oversee executive compensation, so she has nothing to 303 00:27:55.880 --> 00:28:00.400 do with that. And I think part of that from Brettefeld was Brettefeld's running 304 00:28:00.400 --> 00:28:08.480 for county supervisor Da Smith. Camp is opposing him. She's supporting Steve Brandau, 305 00:28:08.680 --> 00:28:12.079 So I'm sort of wondering if that had something to do with it. 306 00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:18.880 Again, I love Gary Brettefeld. I respect his work a lot. I 307 00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:23.119 disagree with him somewhat here. I think the easy thing to come on and 308 00:28:23.160 --> 00:28:27.400 be pious about and rant about is well, they're playing these fact cats way 309 00:28:27.519 --> 00:28:33.480 too much and children are starving and dying in the streets. First of all, 310 00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:40.720 I haven't heard in any of the critiques any ways in which Valley Children's 311 00:28:40.759 --> 00:28:45.200 provision of care for children. None of the critiques that have been given that 312 00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:56.359 I've seen so far has indicated that care for children is suffering at Children's. 313 00:28:56.680 --> 00:29:03.079 If anything, if you look at the landscape of Fresno Area hospitals, Valley 314 00:29:03.119 --> 00:29:07.440 Children's is about the gold standard, all right. It's doing better than Saint 315 00:29:07.480 --> 00:29:12.480 Agnes, it is better. It is held in better regard than community in 316 00:29:12.559 --> 00:29:17.400 certain respects. Again, I'm not a medical person. I'm a little bit 317 00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:19.720 from the outside looking in. But I know enough people in the community that 318 00:29:19.960 --> 00:29:27.079 you know, Valley Children's has a pretty great reputation, So the idea that 319 00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:37.359 this is deeply harming children is I think questionable at best. Now, Center 320 00:29:37.440 --> 00:29:48.519 Pack has also massively increased revenue to the hospital, and his salary has gone 321 00:29:48.599 --> 00:29:56.039 up in ways that are kind of commensurate with that. Now, I admit 322 00:29:56.119 --> 00:30:00.480 that the home loan thing, I don't think. I kind of I don't 323 00:30:00.519 --> 00:30:06.000 fully understand that. I would want to kind of hear their side of it 324 00:30:06.039 --> 00:30:14.440 a little more. It's sort of my guess, though, just I guess 325 00:30:14.440 --> 00:30:19.240 this is my thing knowing the persons involved. These are all pretty reasonable people, 326 00:30:22.839 --> 00:30:26.400 reasonable people who genuinely do care about the provision of care to children. 327 00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:33.680 And my guess is that a more granular, detailed assessment of what's going on 328 00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:41.319 would result in, oh, okay, well that's maybe a little less insane, 329 00:30:44.119 --> 00:30:48.000 especially when it comes to like for example, one of the criticisms was 330 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:51.000 made was that other executives were making more and more and more and more. 331 00:30:51.279 --> 00:30:53.839 Well, a lot of you know, I've come to know some of these 332 00:30:53.880 --> 00:31:00.440 people. A lot of executives at Children's have been there. I mean, 333 00:31:00.359 --> 00:31:07.799 my dad knew some of these people for twenty twenty five thirty years. A 334 00:31:07.799 --> 00:31:12.519 lot of them they got hired, they did a great job, they stayed 335 00:31:12.559 --> 00:31:17.880 on continuing to do a good job. You don't pay them less over time, 336 00:31:18.960 --> 00:31:22.279 you pay them more. You know. It's not like you reset the 337 00:31:22.319 --> 00:31:23.799 pay scale so that oh, I know, you made you know, five 338 00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:26.680 hundred thousand dollars this year, we're gonna bump you down to four hundred thousand. 339 00:31:26.799 --> 00:31:32.599 No, people who do a really good job at a high level, 340 00:31:33.680 --> 00:31:42.880 their salaries don't get reset backwards. So and again, I just find if 341 00:31:42.920 --> 00:31:51.400 there's I just find it. What indication has there been of corruption or corrupt 342 00:31:51.400 --> 00:31:55.599 dealing here? You've got Arius and Miguel Arius and Gary Bredfeld have asked the 343 00:31:55.599 --> 00:31:59.519 Attorney General to investigate how the hospital is spending state dollars. I don't think 344 00:31:59.519 --> 00:32:05.519 there's ever been any indication that Valley Children's has done anything inappropriate with its state 345 00:32:05.559 --> 00:32:10.880 funding at any point. The and plus, look, why is Valley children 346 00:32:12.039 --> 00:32:16.079 able to sustain itself? It gets more donor support than any other hospital. 347 00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:21.279 What's the difference between Valley Children's versus Madeira community. They're both serving a huge 348 00:32:21.319 --> 00:32:24.359 population of medical patients. Well, Valley Children's has way more charitable support, 349 00:32:25.480 --> 00:32:30.240 all right, if they have charitable supporters who are backing what the hospital does 350 00:32:30.279 --> 00:32:36.720 and want to pay the executives more compensation. I don't know that that's necessarily 351 00:32:37.759 --> 00:32:42.240 some horrible problem. You know, it looks bad. It maybe maybe in 352 00:32:42.240 --> 00:32:45.000 a certain light it looks bad. But I'll also say this. Look, 353 00:32:46.400 --> 00:32:52.559 there's some people who put forward the argument we need to cut members of Congresses 354 00:32:52.640 --> 00:32:58.119 pay those members of Congress, these fat cat members of Congress. They're getting 355 00:32:58.119 --> 00:33:01.799 all this money, we should cut their all right, you want to reduce 356 00:33:01.839 --> 00:33:06.279 the pay for members of congressmen to zero, members of Congress to zero dollars? 357 00:33:06.599 --> 00:33:08.079 Great. The only people who are going to run for Congress then are 358 00:33:08.119 --> 00:33:14.079 people who are already extremely wealthy. Is that the only class of people we 359 00:33:14.119 --> 00:33:15.680 want to run for Congress? To run for city council? I remember there 360 00:33:15.720 --> 00:33:20.519 was this debate like this about the city council where the city council members were 361 00:33:20.519 --> 00:33:25.279 making like basically a part time salary when the job of being a president of 362 00:33:25.279 --> 00:33:32.359 city council member had increased to obviously being a full time job. And you 363 00:33:32.400 --> 00:33:37.039 know, just in case mister Brettefeld thinks I've been too harsh on him this 364 00:33:37.039 --> 00:33:40.519 segment. I'll be harsh on mister Brandow this segment. So uh, there 365 00:33:40.559 --> 00:33:44.559 was a proposal to increase the pay for members of the president of city council, 366 00:33:44.759 --> 00:33:46.720 and people on the County Board of Supervisors were like, oh, that's 367 00:33:47.000 --> 00:33:52.039 what a Oh these fat council on the city Council trying to feather their nests. 368 00:33:52.200 --> 00:33:57.160 Meanwhile, the county supervisors were making well into six figures every year with 369 00:33:57.240 --> 00:34:01.119 no term limits, Like like, what a hippoc critical perch to criticize people, 370 00:34:01.119 --> 00:34:08.480 Basically, like, I think we should actually incentivize competent professional people to 371 00:34:08.599 --> 00:34:16.079 want to work in government in that same vein. Yeah, running a whole 372 00:34:16.880 --> 00:34:21.800 flip in children's hospital and all the charitable things associated, blah blah, that's 373 00:34:21.840 --> 00:34:27.119 a really hard job. Yeah, you should pay people a lot of money 374 00:34:27.559 --> 00:34:32.840 to run it. Now, maybe there's a debate to be had about excess. 375 00:34:32.880 --> 00:34:37.480 I think one of the things was that he had like bonuses for two 376 00:34:37.519 --> 00:34:39.800 consecutive years paid to him in one year, which made that one years salary 377 00:34:39.800 --> 00:34:45.639 look way larger. Okay, that's fine. I just don't think that there's 378 00:34:45.840 --> 00:34:51.320 any real indication that the provision of care to children was in any way so 379 00:34:51.440 --> 00:34:57.039 grievously harmed. I think this is an easy criticism to make, and I 380 00:34:57.519 --> 00:35:01.840 hate those kinds of like easy safe arguments. When we return, I look 381 00:35:01.920 --> 00:35:06.440 back to Saint Patrick's Day and one extra thing about the White House Saint Patrick's 382 00:35:06.480 --> 00:35:09.000 Day shindig that made me want to puke. Next on The John Girardi Show, 383 00:35:12.320 --> 00:35:15.360 to close out the show, I I do this with my Twitter account. 384 00:35:15.360 --> 00:35:21.159 I tweet and retweet things that basically the way at Fresno Johnny, by 385 00:35:21.199 --> 00:35:24.760 the way Twitter dot com slash Fresno Johnny. Basically, my Twitter account is 386 00:35:24.800 --> 00:35:30.760 basically like show prep. I see something interesting or funny on Twitter, I 387 00:35:30.800 --> 00:35:35.480 make a tweet or retweet it, and then the idea is to use that 388 00:35:35.519 --> 00:35:37.880 for the show later. And then I forget to look at my own account 389 00:35:38.119 --> 00:35:40.559 when I'm prepping for the show, and then I forget about this. So 390 00:35:40.599 --> 00:35:46.920 this is a little old back the Sunday, I guess the Sunday before last 391 00:35:47.119 --> 00:35:52.239 was Saint Patrick's Day and President Biden had some like kind of catholic y shindig 392 00:35:52.320 --> 00:36:00.199 at the White House where it was just a who's who of barf inducing Catholic 393 00:36:00.280 --> 00:36:05.760 lefties. So a lot of you won't know who these people are, but 394 00:36:05.960 --> 00:36:13.199 the editor of America magazine, father James Martin, who's a huge lefty Thomas 395 00:36:13.280 --> 00:36:16.159 Reese, who I think used to be the editor of America until Pope Benedict 396 00:36:16.239 --> 00:36:22.960 like disciplined him for all of his various heterodoxies. All these Catholic lefties were 397 00:36:22.960 --> 00:36:27.280 there and for all their like, oh, Christian nationalism on the right is 398 00:36:27.320 --> 00:36:30.039 bad. Groveling for power to Donald Trump is bad. They were all like, 399 00:36:30.199 --> 00:36:32.920 oh, look, you can see me in the picture here with in 400 00:36:32.920 --> 00:36:37.239 the background with Joe Biden. Oh, Joe Biden's there in the foreh Like, 401 00:36:37.679 --> 00:36:44.239 okay, yeah, So groveling for power towards right wing politicians terrible, 402 00:36:44.320 --> 00:36:47.639 horrible and agreed, shouldn't probably do it. But when you do it for 403 00:36:47.800 --> 00:36:52.320 left wing politicians who support unrestricted abortion, you know, a boarding a million 404 00:36:52.400 --> 00:37:00.679 kids per year. Oh that's fine, no, biggie nbd. And as 405 00:37:00.760 --> 00:37:09.079 if I didn't have enough barworthy from this Saint Patrick's day, I finally found 406 00:37:09.119 --> 00:37:15.280 something even more barworthy. At one point, President Biden, not exactly a 407 00:37:15.360 --> 00:37:21.400 cultured man, started tearing up because someone played on the violin, a rendition 408 00:37:21.639 --> 00:37:30.599 of the worst popularized him in the whole Catholic him genre of the last seventy 409 00:37:30.679 --> 00:37:36.960 years on Eagles Wings. Now for the you non Catholics, you may not 410 00:37:36.960 --> 00:37:39.719 have been subjected to this, but pretty much every Catholic funeral other than my 411 00:37:39.800 --> 00:37:46.039 dad's funeral has played on Eagles Wings. It's kind of a ripoff of Psalm 412 00:37:46.159 --> 00:37:53.000 ninety one. It's very sappy, and it's a sure sign that you don't 413 00:37:53.039 --> 00:38:00.760 have a deep knowledge of Catholic music. Like President Biden's always President Biden's favorite 414 00:38:00.800 --> 00:38:04.719 hymn. It's probably like the only him Biden can actually remember, and it's 415 00:38:04.719 --> 00:38:07.320 a video of someone playing it on the violin, really sappy while Biden tears 416 00:38:07.400 --> 00:38:12.280 up just the most barfin' do, like I just wanted to crawl into a 417 00:38:12.280 --> 00:38:15.840 hole on behalf of the entire Catholic community and die. That'll do it for 418 00:38:15.880 --> 00:38:19.079 the John Girardi Show, See next time on Power Talk