2/2/26 Fed Leadership, Debt Strategy, and Kern County's Growth with Richard Chapman

The Moneywise Radio Show and Podcast Monday, February 2nd BE MONEYWISE. Moneywise Wealth Management I "The Moneywise Radio Show & Podcast" call: 661-847-1000 text in anytime: 661-396-1000 website: www. MoneywiseGuys.com facebook: Moneywise_Wealth_Management LinkedIn: Moneywise_Wealth_Management Guest: Richard Chapman, President/CEO of the Kern Economic Development Corporation website: https://kernedc.com/ The opinions voiced in this podcast are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. To determine which strategies or investments may be suitable for you, consult the appropriate qualified professional prior to making a decision. Richard Chapman and KEDC are not affiliated with nor endorsed by LPL Financial or Moneywise Wealth Management].

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Live from the basement inside the historic Woolworths Building in downtown Bakersfield. Call or text in at 661-396-1000.

• 0:29Speaker 01

  Securities offered through LPL Financial, member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through LPL Financial. LPL Financial and MoneyWise Wealth Management are independently owned and operated.

• 0:37Speaker 00

  Now, let's start the Money Wise Show.

• 0:40Speaker 02

  Hey, welcome to the Money Wise Show. We are live from the basement of the historic Woolworths Building in downtown Bakersfield. For the next hour, we're on KGO Money Talk, 1230 a.m., 101.1 FM, and always streaming at MoneyWiseGuys.com. You can call or text into the show 24 hours a day at 661-396-1000. We're your hosts, I'm Sharad Waite and?

• 1:03Speaker 03

  Sammy Abiyawi.

• 1:04Speaker 02

  Sammy, love it. This is always a fun, fun day of the week when you and I get to sit down here.

• 1:09Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 1:10Speaker 02

  In the basement and take care of business. Good having you.

• 1:14Speaker 03

  Yeah, love, love the new digs and every time I come in, I'm just awe. Love being here.

• 1:19Speaker 02

  I do too. It's fun. It's like, I genuinely look forward to coming down here and getting caught up on what's going on. We try to do a little prep work every day. Try, we do, we prep every day. And there is so much to cover today, but we also got some really, really great messages that I want to make sure that we, we give it good justice and, and serve it well. So, let's start there.

• 1:44Speaker 03

  Yeah, I'll start. Reports are saying we are on the verge of another government shutdown. Are you kidding me?

• 1:51Speaker 02

  No, we're not kidding you.

• 1:53Speaker 03

  Nope.

• 1:54Speaker 02

  It looks like those.

• 1:54Speaker 03

  It's not fake news.

• 1:55Speaker 02

  It's not. It's not fake news, but it is a little different.

• 1:58Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 1:59Speaker 02

  So, you know, we're only a couple of months off of the longest government shutdown that we've had in history. Like, I understand people's anxiety when it comes to a potential another shutdown.

• 2:11Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 2:11Speaker 02

  But I think that this is gonna be, I think we're gonna be okay. From everything that I can read.

• 2:16Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 2:16Speaker 02

  We're, we're in a completely different space than we were in the last government shutdown, including, this is already passed the Senate. It's really, and it's gone back to the House. It's really just the House, like, tying up some bows. That's what it seems like.

• 2:32Speaker 03

  Yeah, and I don't think it's, the fundamentals are not in question between the two parties in this case, in my opinion. Like, like we did last time. Last time they were so far apart that it took, I don't know how many weeks, like the longest, like you said.

• 2:44Speaker 02

  Too long.

• 2:45Speaker 03

  This is, this is not the case. I think these are just things associated with some of the demands that Democrats are making that are political demands, not financial demands, in my opinion.

• 2:55Speaker 02

  Yeah, and, and it doesn't, it's, it's not hitting all the agencies. There are only some of the departments that are shut down. And remember, when we had our last, anytime we've had a shutdown in the past, you could, the government, most of the government can continue to fund itself for, for a little bit, you know, a few days, sometimes up to, up to, you know, a couple of weeks, because they've already gotten funding and, you know, for that part. There's, it's really, you know, it's, it's much more complicated than I think most of us know, myself included. I'm not, you know, I'm not a political scientist. I don't fully understand all the ins and outs of how Washington DC works. But I do know that it is, it is throughout the year Congress has to approve spending bills.

• 3:38Speaker 02

  Every year, it's, there's constant voting by Congress to approve spending for different bills. It happens about 12 times a year. They, they, you know, they, they pass the ones that are easy to pass. And then sometimes these spending bills get hung up because somebody's got an agenda and they're using it as a leverage to sort of push whatever it is that they're trying to accomplish, which really bothers me because whether you're for or against it, that doesn't seem like the place to be, to be risking our assets, our, our country's assets and, and livelihood. This is money that has already been called,

• 4:21Speaker 02

  like already been committed to. And now they just need to fund what they've already said they're going to commit to, but they're going, no, you know, they're, they're taking back their word and going, wait, not until you do this. And it's like, who can do that? Like you can't do that.

• 4:34Speaker 03

  Politicians can.

• 4:35Speaker 02

  Politicians can, but you do that in business, you know, it's like.

• 4:38Speaker 03

  No, if you do that in business, you'll be bankrupt.

• 4:41Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 4:41Speaker 03

  Because you just, your reputation will be in the drain.

• 4:43Speaker 02

  Right.

• 4:44Speaker 03

  And as a business owner, reputation is very important. That's one of the things that's been missing in, in, in Washington, I think that people are complaining about.

• 4:52Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 4:53Speaker 03

  Is the fact that politicians play with the, the funding play with passing this, this, this bills in a timely manner. So our government never shuts down.

• 5:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 5:03Speaker 03

  It costs us money. Last time I think you and I talked, when we had the longest shutdown in the United States history, billions of dollars lost.

• 5:10Speaker 02

  Yeah, totally wasted.

• 5:11Speaker 03

  Billions of dollars, weeks of, of, if we, we talked about China, how China is ahead of us, we lost six weeks or eight weeks of growth to China.

• 5:20Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 5:21Speaker 03

  That's infrastructure growth, that's funding growth, that's a bunch of other projects that were on hold for a long period of time.

• 5:29Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 5:30Speaker 03

  So, but, but, but also, you know, if, if you know Washington, they're going to put, that's the pressure point they have in order for them to get their stuff across is that period of time.

• 5:40Speaker 02

  Yeah. Withhold paying the bill that, for the charges that you've already incurred. It would be like if, if we hear Sammy said, we're going to, we're going to hire a painter.

• 5:49Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 5:49Speaker 02

  They're going to go here and they're going to paint our building. We agree to it. Yes, we're going to pay you. This is how much we're going to pay you. They paint the building and they come to collect and we go, well, hold on. On a minute, we're not gonna pay you until you do also these things.

• 6:02Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 6:02Speaker 02

  Two. And then it's like, we would, nobody's ever gonna come paint.

• 6:06Speaker 03

  No, plus, and in that case, the painter has a way to to get to you and stop you too. Mechanics leans.

• 6:13Speaker 02

  Yes, yeah.

• 6:14Speaker 03

  So the painter is actually in a better position.

• 6:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, maybe I should give a better example.

• 6:18Speaker 03

  No, but I'm just saying, in this case, we really don't have.

• 6:23Speaker 02

  There's no recourse.

• 6:24Speaker 03

  No.

• 6:24Speaker 02

  Other than the the American people just being mad about it. You know, people are really upset. They don't like it. They don't like that, like, that people aren't getting paid. You look at all the military people, all of the security people. It's, it's just, they have nothing, they didn't do anything to deserve that.

• 6:43Speaker 03

  Imagine this, we're asking somebody to take a gun, go defend this country in maybe a very, very hostile environment. Oh, by the way. Eh, well, well, wait until next month for it to get paid.

• 6:54Speaker 02

  We'll catch up.

• 6:55Speaker 03

  We'll catch up.

• 6:55Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's like, that's not how you run a business.

• 6:58Speaker 03

  That's what erodes the trust. That's what a lot of American people are feeling today. And I know we're not a political show, but that's what a lot of people are feeling today.

• 7:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, and because we're not a political show, it bothers us even more because this doesn't seem like it should be politicized. This should not, this, we should be able to pay our bills when we said we're gonna pay our bills. And if you don't agree with what bills you wanna pay, then you argue it before the bill is passed. You don't argue with it after when it's time to fund it.

• 7:25Speaker 03

  The American integrity.

• 7:26Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 7:27Speaker 03

  That we were known for across the world.

• 7:30Speaker 02

  Right.

• 7:31Speaker 03

  Right?

• 7:31Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 7:31Speaker 03

  When you say made in the USA, that means it's gonna last a long time. That's gonna do this, that's gonna do that. That stuff is being eroded because of all these activities that the politicians are doing.

• 7:40Speaker 02

  Well, yeah, and while we're talking about the politics still, you know, this, this has come up since President Trump has made his public his official nominee for president of the Federal Reserve.

• 7:52Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 7:53Speaker 02

  You know, it's kinda gone back and forth between who, you know, who he was going to. Select and what impact that might have. I'm always curious about how the stock market is going to react to a nominee. And it turns out today, at least, the stock market is kind of shrugging off the nominee, which is Kevin Warsh. Kevin Warsh is, I think it could have been a lot worse. I'm not saying I'm a fan. I'm not saying I like him or dislike him. But I think we could have had somebody much, much worse nominated for this position, which some say is the most powerful position in the world.

• 8:28Speaker 03

  I agree with the most powerful position in the world. I mean, the rest of the world, when we sneeze, guess what? The rest of the world notices and they need to wait and to say, bless you.

• 8:41Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 8:41Speaker 03

  Because we just control so much.

• 8:43Speaker 02

  Right.

• 8:43Speaker 03

  Our dollar controls so much.

• 8:45Speaker 02

  That's right. Yeah. And the decisions that we're making here, the decisions our Fed Chair makes impacts how they're, even though it's the dollar that, like you said, so many people are reliant on the dollar or it's shipped back to them from home or to home. And then it impacts that, you know, what they're buying.

• 9:06Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 9:06Speaker 02

  And what it costs for them because America still makes a lot of stuff.

• 9:11Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 9:11Speaker 02

  And so it's, you know, it's maddening. So, you know, I'm relieved at least that the markets today were not freaking out about Kevin Warsh.

• 9:19Speaker 03

  I, you know, I think you and I have talked about this multiple times, how the market is reacting to some of these big decisions.

• 9:27Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 9:27Speaker 03

  And even when the rates did not move and they kept them the same. And there was that talk about Jerome Powell being fired. The market still did not react. In fact, in a high interest rate, right? We still had some of the largest growth we've had.

• 9:45Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 9:46Speaker 03

  Right? So, I don't know if the market is just becoming more resilient and just independent of all these decision making, right?

• 9:53Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 9:54Speaker 03

  It's just, there's something happening.

• 9:57Speaker 02

  There is definitely something happening. I'd like to really look at data because I'm just going off of anecdotally, you know, how markets have been, you know, since we've been in the business and since MoneyWise has been in the business. We've just had these extremely long bull markets where, you know, and very short bear markets where, you know, where we get through some major worldwide economic tragedy like a, like COVID or like the great financial crisis. We tend to just, like, there's tools that we're using, but we shake that off and the markets just keep on going. It does seem like a bit of a head scratcher. I'm thankful for it. As a financial advisor, I'm thankful that people haven't been whipsawed

• 10:41Speaker 02

  so much. If they've just been sitting in the seat and they've kept their investments at least exposed to US, the US stock market somewhat, they're, people have done very, very well. But it is, you know, it's, it's going to be interesting to see what happens with the, with the Fed. I'm not a fan of the, the position being politicized because, you know, if this guy gets in, you know, President Trump only has three more years and then, and if he's a rock star and then we get some other knucklehead that comes in, into the office and to the White House and now they're, they're politicizing somebody who's just doing a great job, that, that's, that's bad. Well, we want to have a good person in there that can-

• 11:27Speaker 03

  That understands the economy, that understands the country, understands what the mandate is about and just follows through with that.

• 11:32Speaker 02

  Yeah. He's definitely, the, the candidate, Kevin Warsh, is definitely more of a, of an investment banker and, and the investment side rather than the economic side, which, you know, there's pros and cons to that. He was an economic advisor for the White House from 2002 to 2006 where he worked, worked with George W. Bush and, and that administration. He was a Fed governor for a period of time and worked during the 2008 financial crisis and was a key liaison to the Wall Street firms during that incredibly scary- Very time economically. So in he's a, you know, he's a legitimate.

• 12:13Speaker 03

  Candidate.

• 12:14Speaker 02

  Candidate. He's had some legitimate schooling.

• 12:16Speaker 03

  He's got the bed degree for to to to run this office.

• 12:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. I mean, he's he's he's he's educated at least and and currently a fellow at the Hoover Institution and a lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Sits on multiple advisory panels. So, you know, at least his resume is not a knucklehead.

• 12:36Speaker 03

  It doesn't sound like it.

• 12:37Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 12:37Speaker 03

  Doesn't sound like the 10,000 point Dow Jones guy.

• 12:41Speaker 02

  No, no, that that guy, thank goodness, that didn't work out because I didn't want to have to deal with that for however long he's gonna be.

• 12:48Speaker 03

  We have more questions.

• 12:49Speaker 02

  Let's go. Yeah.

• 12:51Speaker 03

  I have about 6K worth of credit card debt and I'm coming into around 4K in loan. And I was wondering, would it be best to just pay off the two bigger cards? Or would it be smarter to spread it over the four cards? Thank you.

• 13:07Speaker 02

  All right. This is great, Sammy. I'm glad you're here to talk about this. You, you know, built a career around lending people money. You understand this concept really well. But I think it's important for our listeners to know, too. There's there's, we don't have all the details on this because we don't know what interest rate the four credit cards are that this listener has. So that's a key factor. It's not just how much you owe on each credit card, but how much is each of those debts costing you on those credit cards?

• 13:33Speaker 03

  What's your rate?

• 13:35Speaker 02

  What's your rate?

• 13:35Speaker 03

  On each of these credit cards?

• 13:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, and the balance does matter, but sometimes the rate is more important than the balance. And sometimes the balance is more important, the rate than the rate, depending on the size of both of those. But there's, we've been very critical. I've personally been very critical of Dave Ramsey's debt snowball. Which I I'm careful about this because I want to be clear. It's definitely that his concept of a debt snowball is to pay the the smallest credit card first. The the one with the least. Dollar amount that is owed.

• 14:11Speaker 03

  Principal bounce.

• 14:12Speaker 02

  Yeah, principal bounce, the least principal amount. Pay, start there. And the idea is that there is an emotional attachment that happens. Once you start making progress and you get rid of one of those cards, you get excited and you get into a routine and then the next card is paid off and then the next card. So for our listener, if, if you tend to be more sort of emotionally driven, then I really like and don't have a problem with the debt snowball. So if you're, if you're behavior driven, then our recommendation would be go with the smallest card first. Get rid of it and get it paid off and get it out of the way. Feel good about yourself, pat yourself on the back and then keep with it.

• 14:54Speaker 02

  Because that's the biggest problem is that just like dieting or exercise, doesn't matter what you're doing. If, if like, if you're not going to end up doing it, then you're not going to benefit from it. So find something that works for you.

• 15:04Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 15:05Speaker 02

  The other option besides the debt snowball is my primary, my primary, my preference. And that is the debt avalanche. That's a math first mentality. So instead of just focusing on your behavior, you're looking at, okay, what is this costing me? What's costing me the most? Think of it this way, the worst debt you have is the most expensive debt. That's the one you want to get rid of first.

• 15:28Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 15:28Speaker 02

  So I would say, look at those four cards. Look at, you know, you'll have to know what your monthly payment is, what the interest rate is, what the balance is. And then you figure out which one's costing you the most each month. Get that debt paid off first and get, and then once it's done, you don't need four credit cards. You don't have to close them, but now just stick with one good credit card and pay it off each month and don't carry a balance.

• 15:52Speaker 03

  I'm going to assume that the loan this person is talking about, the 4K is on a much lower interest rate. Right?

• 15:58Speaker 02

  Right.

• 15:58Speaker 03

  So, so you're going to have a delta between, let's say, eight percent rates, that consolidation loan that you're going to get and your 28 to 32% credit cards.

• 16:11Speaker 03

  I agree with you, Sher. I think the method you called it the avalanche method.

• 16:16Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 16:16Speaker 03

  That's what I prefer. Pay the highest credit card, the highest rate credit cards.

• 16:21Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 16:21Speaker 03

  And then use the delta, the savings that you have between that 8% and whatever percentages you were paying those credit cards you paid off and keep at it.

• 16:31Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 16:32Speaker 03

  With the two grand you have still to pay off.

• 16:35Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 16:35Speaker 03

  Do not let up. Do not stop. You've got to get this thing under control and paid off.

• 16:41Speaker 02

  Yeah, and then our listener is going to have to get the loan paid off that they got to pay off the credit cards.

• 16:45Speaker 03

  Correct. Now, now he's going to be saving on interest, this person, he or she, they're going to be saving on interest, I'm hoping, between the new rate and the existing rates on these credit cards. What I'm saying is that interest expense that you've had, don't go and, hey, I need a new iPhone, or I need, no. Continue with the credit card debt that you have, the $2,000 that you still have. Let's get that paid off as well.

• 17:12Speaker 02

  Yeah. Good. Let's get, let's get, uh, let's go for another one.

• 17:16Speaker 03

  Sure. Um, if I've switched jobs a few times here in Bakersfield, what should I do with my old 401ks? If I take them out early, what is the penalty and the process? Thank you, guys.

• 17:28Speaker 02

  Great question. And, and there's a lot to cover here. And so I want to remind you, all of our listeners, we're going to speak real generally. And, um, you know, this is, this is one of the more common dilemmas that people find themselves in. What do you, what do you do with an old 401k? It's not a straightforward answer. There's not just one definite, correct way to go about this. The key thing to know is that if you have a 401k and you are, um, are, are no longer working, but you got that 401k or you're no longer with that company. If you're under 59, then you're gonna have to pay a penalty to the IRS for all the money

• 18:11Speaker 02

  that you pull out. 10% is what that's gonna cost you. So that's because you're pulling it out before you're over the age of 59. The other aspect is that you're gonna pay income taxes on that, or you're gonna owe income tax for the money that you withdraw. So, most of the time, what it means is that people either want to roll it into an IRA, an individual retirement account. So, you can do that with any of your old 401Ks. You can put all of those 401Ks into one individual retirement account. And that then makes it so much easier, I think, for people to track it and to not let it get orphaned and get

• 18:53Speaker 02

  into trouble. And then, the other option is, if you didn't roll it into an IRA, is you can take your old 401K, a lot of people don't know this, and put it into your new 401K. And there can be some advantage to that, because maybe your new 401K with your new job, it will allow you to take advantage of whatever that plan offers. Maybe it's low cost, or you know, you've got-

• 19:19Speaker 03

  Different strategies within the plan itself that allows you to maybe maximize return or whatever. Is that possible?

• 19:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's possible. It's possible that you have good investment options. But also, it allows you to then borrow against it in your new 401K. You can't borrow against an IRA, but you can against your most 401Ks. They would allow that. And then you have it all in one place, so that you can, again, kind of like the debt snowball, there's also a savings snowball.

• 19:48Speaker 03

  I see.

• 19:48Speaker 02

  When people get excited, once their 401K gets to a certain level, "I've got 10,000 in there. Wow, I have five figures." And then you get it to six figures, you know, and it gets exciting, and people are incentivized to continue to contribute to their retirement account. So, it's kind of nice if it's all in that 401K. So, you can take those, you can take your old 401Ks, either put it into your new 401K, or put it into an individual retirement account. The advantage of the individual- Retirement account usually comes down to you have now the world of investments at your disposal. You can, you can, you're not restricted to just what your 401k is offering you, but you can, you can put it into anything as long as you keep it as an IRA.

• 20:32Speaker 02

  If you, if you take that money out and you don't put it into an IRA and you just take possession of that money. Now you've got the early withdrawal penalty and you gotta pay taxes on it. So I wouldn't, I wouldn't do that. If you can avoid that, that's the, that's the recommendation.

• 20:47Speaker 03

  We have one more.

• 20:48Speaker 02

  What do you think? Should we answer that or go to our guest?

• 20:51Speaker 03

  It's up to you.

• 20:51Speaker 02

  Let's, uh, let's go for it. Let's answer it. Then we can, then, then we'll, then we'll go to our guest.

• 20:55Speaker 03

  Sounds good. I noticed that used car lots owned by major auto manufacturers, BMW, Chevy, Lexus are including additional add-on services at the very first step of the negotiation for a used car. I visited BMW of Bakersfield, interested in purchasing a used car, used vehicle that I found online. I was surprised to see that they added a windshield protection repair or replacement plan for $995 to the overall cost breakdown of the vehicle. I kindly asked the salesperson to remove the fee since I didn't want the service, but she stated that this was a detail that would need a manager's approval to remove.

• 21:38Speaker 03

  She was hesitant to remove the fee. I felt like this was an illegal practice. I had a similar experience at another lot in the San Fernando Valley. They automatically installed an auto alarm and protective film on the vehicle and expected the customer to pay $3,000 in additional fees for these add-ons. Is this practice legal? How can they force a customer to purchase these add-on features? Please advise your listeners to be aware of these unethical practices when purchasing a used vehicle and to be money wise.

• 22:10Speaker 02

  That is awesome. That's, that's ye olde bait and switch, isn't it Sammy?

• 22:15Speaker 03

  It is.

• 22:15Speaker 02

  A classic example of you get it, you get somebody who's already bought. And this was talking about the government financing too. It's like you get somebody committed to buy it. And then you go, oh, and by the way, you're gonna also pay for this and this and that. And they make it sound like, well, of course you're gonna want that protective film. You know, of course you're gonna want that extended warranty. So we're just gonna keep that on here. That's, I think unethical and really.

• 22:39Speaker 02

  Too bad.

• 22:40Speaker 03

  It's a it's a long practice, though, in this industry.

• 22:43Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 22:44Speaker 03

  When you walk in, you have a sticker price and then there's add-ons. There's there's extended warranty. There's this, there's that. The salesperson, by the way, typically makes a good spiff on these add-ons.

• 22:57Speaker 02

  Yeah, right.

• 22:58Speaker 03

  But that's the the reputation of the industry, unfortunately, especially the used car.

• 23:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 23:03Speaker 03

  Industry.

• 23:03Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 23:04Speaker 03

  The worst thing you could say to a banker, especially during 2008, is like, we were compared to used car.

• 23:09Speaker 02

  Oh, salesman.

• 23:11Speaker 03

  Yeah, because the banking industry was in shambles.

• 23:14Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 23:14Speaker 03

  Right? But fortunately and unfortunately, this this this is happening. Some people do need these services. However, here's the thing. If you have a price that you saw online, always read this fine print.

• 23:29Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 23:30Speaker 03

  Because this could have been an add-on.

• 23:32Speaker 02

  Right.

• 23:32Speaker 03

  In the fine prints.

• 23:34Speaker 02

  Right.

• 23:34Speaker 03

  Because in the state of California, dealerships have to be really, really careful to do things like this. There's a thing called the SB 478, the Honest Pricing Law, that dealerships have to abide by.

• 23:47Speaker 02

  Mm hmm. And what does that what does that mean?

• 23:50Speaker 03

  It just protects the consumer.

• 23:51Speaker 02

  Yeah. So like if they're if they're if they're tried, if they're trying to be sold something at a different price than what was advertised.

• 23:59Speaker 03

  Then then then that's unethical.

• 24:01Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 24:02Speaker 03

  The law is on on the customer's side at that point.

• 24:04Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 24:04Speaker 03

  With that being said, I always, you know, you've got, when you go to you buy a used car, be ready to negotiate.

• 24:12Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 24:13Speaker 03

  And it's not a sprint, it's a marathon.

• 24:15Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 24:16Speaker 03

  Just be long-winded, man. You're you're you're in the driver's seat.

• 24:20Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 24:20Speaker 03

  Once you're in the lot, they don't want to lose you. So just take your time, take a deep breath, go go smoke, get a free cup of coffee from them, relax. That's what I would say to buyers, just relax. My wife refuses to go to the shopping by herself.

• 24:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 24:36Speaker 03

  She said, no, when I was 17 or 18, I went and I was taken advantage of, and I don't want to do that again.

• 24:42Speaker 02

  Right.

• 24:43Speaker 03

  So it it has, it causes trauma for people.

• 24:45Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 24:46Speaker 03

  Me, on the other hand, if you follow me.

• 24:48Speaker 02

  Think you kind of like it.

• 24:49Speaker 03

  I love it. It reminds me of the bazaars in Morocco, man.

• 24:53Speaker 02

  Yeah, just.

• 24:54Speaker 03

  I'm just gonna, look, I have all the time in the world. I freed up my Saturday just for this.

• 24:59Speaker 02

  Yeah. So in the bazaars in Morocco, I'm guessing they use similar tactics where it's just come on in.

• 25:04Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 25:05Speaker 02

  Come on in and feel the fabric, right?

• 25:06Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 25:07Speaker 02

  And then once you, don't worry about price. Don't worry about what, just come in and smell it, come in and touch it. Oh, isn't this great? It's fantastic, you know?

• 25:13Speaker 03

  Imagine this, can you show me your living room? Let me, remember, poor Gero, he's thirty five hundred dollar Moroccan Berber carpet. He told me about that. I'm like, Gero, why didn't you call me? Well, I just felt bad for the salesperson. I'm like, well, good for you.

• 25:28Speaker 02

  They don't feel bad.

• 25:29Speaker 03

  Consider this a donation.

• 25:33Speaker 02

  I mean, used cars is a self, it's the same thing. Like, I think the worst thing for consumers to go in not really knowing what you want.

• 25:40Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 25:40Speaker 02

  Because once you get into a car that you fall in love with, you're gonna be, that bias now is inherent in you. And you're gonna start lying to yourself. Like, I know I came in with a budget of forty thousand, but now, what's the difference? That's sixty thousand. Who cares?

• 25:55Speaker 03

  The thing is, we don't go in with a budget of forty thousand dollars. We go in with the payment.

• 26:01Speaker 02

  Yeah, the monthly payment.

• 26:02Speaker 03

  Thing you can do is to go in with, well, I can afford seven hundred dollars payment a month. Let me put you on a car with seven hundred dollars. By towards the end, you know what? I got you in this love, you love this car, the letter, the this, that, you know? But it's not seven hundred dollars, it's about seven seventy five.

• 26:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, but it's got a protective film on it.

• 26:23Speaker 03

  It's got a protective film on it.

• 26:25Speaker 02

  Right.

• 26:25Speaker 03

  You already fell in love and that's, that's the psychology of sales.

• 26:29Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 26:29Speaker 03

  And you've got to be careful. Now, going back to the listener's question, you can ask for this thing to be removed. Unless it's a fixture that was disclosed online before you actually went into the lot.

• 26:40Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 26:40Speaker 03

  I would call them out on that.

• 26:41Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah, totally. And then.

• 26:43Speaker 03

  And by the way, you know, these are friends of mine. I mean, I, some of these people I know. So I'm careful, but I still walk in and just ask, like, I don't want this, remove it. But put me on a different car, similar car, without this thing. Because I don't want to pay a thousand dollars for a protective film.

• 26:58Speaker 02

  The, the problem. With, but like you said, going in and saying, okay, so I've got a budget of whatever your monthly budget is, is that you can fudge so many of the other numbers to make that work.

• 27:07Speaker 03

  Four square, baby, the four square.

• 27:08Speaker 02

  The four square. All they need to do is extend out the term of the loan, right? Increase the deposit or there's just too many tricks.

• 27:17Speaker 03

  Especially if you walk in with a trade-in.

• 27:19Speaker 02

  Oh, trade-ins, another thing. It's just like.

• 27:22Speaker 03

  Oh, let me, I'm gonna lowball you, but all of a sudden, I'm gonna give you a little bit more so I can get you in that car with that $700 payment.

• 27:29Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 27:30Speaker 03

  There's so many things you can, it's not fudge, just play with.

• 27:33Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 27:34Speaker 03

  You know, with the four square, with buying a car. So just, just know your budget, know what you can afford, know the car you want.

• 27:42Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 27:42Speaker 03

  And just go in and just, just, just take a deep breath.

• 27:46Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 27:46Speaker 03

  You're already in the lot. They're not gonna, they don't want to lose you.

• 27:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 27:50Speaker 03

  They're gonna bring the first salesperson, the closer, and then the manager, and then they're gonna give you discounts.

• 27:54Speaker 02

  Right.

• 27:55Speaker 03

  Because once you said, oh, you know what, I don't want this, you start walking, it's the buzz-argun.

• 27:59Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 27:59Speaker 03

  They're gonna take you back from your clothes and put you back in the seat.

• 28:02Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 28:02Speaker 03

  And give you what you want.

• 28:03Speaker 02

  That's right. Yeah. So remember, you're in charge.

• 28:07Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 28:08Speaker 02

  You can always walk out and you don't have, you're not going to offend them because you're sticking to a certain number.

• 28:15Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 28:15Speaker 02

  If you've done your homework and you know it's a fair price, we're not saying don't pay, they deserve something, right?

• 28:20Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 28:20Speaker 02

  But you don't, you don't, you're not gonna hurt their feelings because you're insisting on standing up for yourself in what you think is a fair cost.

• 28:28Speaker 03

  That's correct. That's correct.

• 28:30Speaker 02

  It's a.

• 28:30Speaker 03

  Know, know, know what you want and, and just, just take it one step at a time and take a deep breath.

• 28:37Speaker 02

  Good stuff, man. We, I think we nailed it. We nailed it. Good job. We're gonna take a break. Now, we come back, we're joined by CEO of Kern Economic Development Corporation. Richard Chapman is on the show. You're not gonna want to miss it. We'll be right back.

• 28:49Speaker 00

  Are you curious to learn more about how you can be money wise? Check out the Money Wise website at MoneyWiseGuys.com to get more info about what we do.

• 29:02Speaker 04

  You know that song?

• 29:03Speaker 02

  I know this song.

• 29:04Speaker 04

  What is it?

• 29:05Speaker 02

  This is Berlin.

• 29:06Speaker 04

  No.

• 29:09Speaker 04

  It's Alpha Ville.

• 29:10Speaker 02

  Alpha Ville, dang it. We're Money Wise. Thanks for, thanks for tuning in. I'm Sherid Wait here with Sam Yabi. We're joined by our guest, Richard Chapman, longtime friend of the show and also CEO of the Current Economic Development Corporation. This is, uh, this is the time where we pay 80s synth music.

• 29:26Speaker 04

  Right, uh, mid 80s, uh, 85, I believe.

• 29:30Speaker 02

  You like bands that had like a one hit, a big hit, but, but has all their, all their hidden gems are behind that song.

• 29:38Speaker 04

  Alpha Ville, you may remember, they're a German band and also Aha.

• 29:42Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 29:43Speaker 04

  They came, I think Norwegian, that they were big in the mid 80s.

• 29:47Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 29:47Speaker 04

  Forever Young's the biggest, uh, hit from Alpha Ville and then that big in Japan.

• 29:53Speaker 02

  Forever Young, Alpha Ville's Forever Young was the, uh, probably still is played at every prom and formal in high school.

• 30:00Speaker 04

  It was number one dance hit. Um, but it's, it's when you really, you think about, hey, I want to stay young forever. But it's actually the theme about war and not surviving past the war.

• 30:09Speaker 02

  Hmm.

• 30:10Speaker 04

  And so therefore you're forever young.

• 30:13Speaker 02

  Interesting, interesting.

• 30:15Speaker 04

  You know, even though.

• 30:15Speaker 02

  I didn't realize that. That, that's like, uh, that's like Leonard Cohen's song.

• 30:19Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah.

• 30:20Speaker 02

  Hallelujah, that's played at, it played at churches when it's all, it's about atheism and.

• 30:24Speaker 04

  Jeff Buckley.

• 30:26Speaker 02

  Right.

• 30:28Speaker 03

  I didn't speak English during the 80s, but I do remember that, uh, this, uh, group from Germany, I think it was Europe, was it?

• 30:34Speaker 04

  You mean, uh, the final countdown?

• 30:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 30:37Speaker 04

  Yeah, that was, that was a huge song. Are you, are you gonna sing it for us today?

• 30:41Speaker 02

  He probably could.

• 30:43Speaker 03

  I probably could.

• 30:44Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 30:44Speaker 03

  I mean, we do need the rain.

• 30:45Speaker 04

  Okay, okay. Coming next week.

• 30:50Speaker 02

  Richard, you just, uh, the, uh, KEDC just pulled off another successful state of the county.

• 30:57Speaker 04

  Well, we had the, uh, the, you know, the county that had the, um, chairman's dress and the county chambers.

• 31:03Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 31:03Speaker 04

  Uh, wonderful event with Supervisor Peters.

• 31:06Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 31:06Speaker 04

  Talking about resilience and, and hard work. And now it's Kern County's time. And then, uh, we hosted the dinner at, uh, Luigi's. So three to 400 folks. So it was a great two celebrations about Kern County as you know, the county theme is grounded in boundless and where where business is boundless. So we always enjoy with our amazing partner at the county.

• 31:33Speaker 02

  Yeah. Any takeaways from from?

• 31:36Speaker 04

  Well, yes, there is, as Phil talked and you know, there's, there's optimism, right? Because we are on the many, many amazing things have happened last year. We've had the Hard Rock open to what 2 million visitors a year.

• 31:53Speaker 03

  How many jobs so far?

• 31:56Speaker 04

  They're over 1,000. So I think 1,100 and we're waiting for phase two, looking forward to hopefully groundbreaking this year. That will be a hotel as well as a venue, concert venue. And so that's new money. If you look at the stats, almost 40% of people that come to that casino are from out of county. So that money would not have, you know, stayed in Kern County without that venue.

• 32:23Speaker 02

  Does that mean 60% of the people?

• 32:25Speaker 04

  Are from Kern County.

• 32:26Speaker 02

  Are from Kern County and they're sitting there at the, at the tables and the slot machines.

• 32:32Speaker 04

  Or eating at the great restaurants.

• 32:33Speaker 03

  I just go there for the peaking duck.

• 32:34Speaker 04

  And I hear their restaurants amazing.

• 32:38Speaker 02

  Yeah, I've heard good things about the food.

• 32:39Speaker 04

  Plus they, they probably go to stay at Kern County, not just the casino.

• 32:45Speaker 02

  Right.

• 32:45Speaker 04

  Go to the outlets, go to Bakersfield, East Kern, wherever.

• 32:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:49Speaker 04

  Visit. So you know, you're going to see that money stay, not just at the casino, but eventually when the hotel is there, I believe there'll be more out of towners.

• 32:57Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:58Speaker 04

  With the concert venue too, up to 2,000 seats. And then a lot of new restaurants to come. So we have that. We have Pacific Steel, which is already building over in Mojave.

• 33:09Speaker 02

  This is the first steel mill in 50 years that California has had. 50 years we've gone without a steel mill.

• 33:15Speaker 04

  Right.

• 33:16Speaker 02

  And it's here in Kern County.

• 33:17Speaker 03

  And this one is the one, I think last time you were on the show, you talked to us about being green or like?

• 33:22Speaker 04

  They call it green steel.

• 33:24Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 33:24Speaker 04

  So in terms of, I guess, net emissions, they'll be in terms of microgrid, in terms of the energy that powers it, solar slash energy.

• 33:34Speaker 03

  Right.

• 33:34Speaker 04

  And this will be 500, four to five, 400 full-time jobs. And they will train too. So even if you don't have a steel manufacturing background, these jobs pay in the seventies.

• 33:48Speaker 02

  My guess is there aren't many here that have experience in the steel mill.

• 33:53Speaker 04

  So we think about with the oil and gas in terms of, you know, the downsizing, these jobs available for those folks. And I mentioned optimism SB 237, now that we're going to be able to get permits.

• 34:08Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 34:10Speaker 04

  We're optimistic, but also we're realistic because we're realist because oil is at what 60 a barrel?

• 34:17Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:19Speaker 04

  You know, states like New Mexico have tripled production while in the last five to 10 years. So how do we get the investment to come back?

• 34:29Speaker 04

  And usually, you know, $80 plus is when it really pushes demand for new drilling.

• 34:35Speaker 02

  So you're saying we gotta get oil prices up?

• 34:37Speaker 04

  Well, I

• 34:39Speaker 02

  Easy.

• 34:42Speaker 04

  The good news is of the regulatory path, hopefully we can move forward. I mean, we know we have the strictest regs in the world to drill.

• 34:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:50Speaker 04

  So, but, you know, time is money. And with all the geopolitical factors, you would assume that, you know, Ukraine and Iran, you would assume that oil prices would have ticked up significantly. But like gold and other, other Bitcoin have, but it hasn't happened.

• 35:08Speaker 02

  No, it's, it's, it's been absolutely fascinating to see, to follow oil and the price of oil, especially from, you know, the, the war in Russia and everything that's going on in the world. It's shocking how low it's been, but that's, that's very different than our fuel prices, which our fuel prices is pretty scary what can happen because of our lack of refinery.

• 35:28Speaker 04

  Right. We're down to eight refineries and we used to be at 40. And so you hear $8 a gallon gas. And, you know, talk about Venezuela as well, that, that's, you know, 80% of that supply was going to China. Well, that's not happening now, but you know, it's a very, what is it like an asphalt like product?

• 35:48Speaker 02

  Yeah. It's like, it's like our crude, it's very thick and sour.

• 35:51Speaker 04

  Additives and the like, and it's inland. So, um, yeah. So we're, you know, that's why we all, we all have to follow what's happening around the world, right? Not in our backyard to determine how our local economy is impacted.

• 36:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, again, we're talking with Richard Chapman, CEO of Kern EDC, where business is boundless. He's still doing the TV and video series?

• 36:11Speaker 04

  Yes, we are, want to have Pacific Steel back on. We just had the director of the airports.

• 36:18Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 36:19Speaker 04

  Bill Lemay.

• 36:20Speaker 02

  Was it anything new there happening with the airports?

• 36:22Speaker 04

  Well, they had, they had over 400,000 travelers last year.

• 36:26Speaker 02

  That's not bad.

• 36:27Speaker 04

  Right.

• 36:27Speaker 02

  Here at Meadows Field. That's awesome.

• 36:30Speaker 04

  Right, and we, and he has an amazing vision in terms of marketing the airport and, and you know, perhaps having before you go through the gate amenities, we discussed like Phoenix, where they have local restaurants have

• 36:43Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 36:44Speaker 04

  a footprint at the airport.

• 36:45Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 36:45Speaker 04

  So why not have, you know,

• 36:47Speaker 02

  We need the worst out there.

• 36:48Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah. Why not have some of our local

• 36:51Speaker 02

  Lunch and that out there.

• 36:52Speaker 03

  Are they going to increase the carriers, the number of carriers?

• 36:55Speaker 04

  Well, that's, that is the hope. And the thing is, I, you know, you hear what, 80, 90% of people go down to LAX or Burbank mainly, not really business, but, you know, personal travel. How do we, how do we retain?

• 37:09Speaker 03

  Correct. I'm one of those.

• 37:10Speaker 04

  Right.

• 37:11Speaker 03

  I get frustrated with the local airport, I'll be honest.

• 37:13Speaker 02

  You get frustrated with the local one?

• 37:15Speaker 03

  Yeah. Remember last time when we were traveling to Texas?

• 37:18Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:19Speaker 03

  And all the cancellations?

• 37:20Speaker 02

  Well, yeah.

• 37:21Speaker 04

  But, but the thing is Denver, Dallas is mainly it's thunderstorms, so a lot of it, but is beyond anybody's control. But it would be nice to have other, other non-stops.

• 37:34Speaker 04

  You know, we talk about Salt Lake City, Seattle. And so he has a wonderful vision about, you know, we need to push, let's hit half a million, you know, to encourage new, new

• 37:46Speaker 02

  Routes.

• 37:47Speaker 04

  Routes.

• 37:48Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:48Speaker 04

  But again, if 7, 80, 90% of folks you and I know go LAX.

• 37:53Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 37:54Speaker 04

  We can show, at the end of the day, you factor in the drive, wear and tear in car, gas, parking, that Bakersfield is very competitive.

• 38:03Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 38:04Speaker 04

  And frankly, even measuring the qualitative, the, the stress of trying to make a flight down LAX.

• 38:10Speaker 03

  I would love to find a way. I mean, I don't have a problem. Find from here to Seattle or from here to San Francisco and go international. Like I have no problem with that. It's just the two, three, four times I tried, it was just the.

• 38:23Speaker 04

  Well, I'll tell you a quick story. We went, my daughter's going to school in Boston. We go down, we're an hour and a half early in LAX. Term, we're at Terminal one and her flight settled Terminal four. We missed the flight.

• 38:34Speaker 02

  Oh, shoot.

• 38:35Speaker 04

  And being an hour and a half early, by the time we got to Terminal four, it was our forty five minutes and by then too late.

• 38:42Speaker 02

  It's a nightmare.

• 38:43Speaker 04

  That would never happen at Bakersfield.

• 38:45Speaker 02

  That's right. And it's just, but still the construction and everything that's going on at LAX, I avoid like the plague.

• 38:50Speaker 04

  It's been worse at the terminal the last few years where in the past you'd get to the terminal, you think you're, it's great.

• 38:57Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 38:58Speaker 04

  You're ready and it's no longer the case.

• 39:00Speaker 03

  And you do need to be in shape because if you're flying international, when you go to the internet, like from, from, from the terminal to, like when you pass security to the actual where the, the gate.

• 39:10Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 39:11Speaker 03

  It's about two miles.

• 39:13Speaker 04

  Yeah, we got back from France and then we said, okay, we walked two miles, we got our car. And I said, great, you know, two o'clock in the afternoon, we're going to be home by dinner. Guess what? We had to route through Hollywood. The traffic was so bad at two o'clock.

• 39:28Speaker 03

  Four or five, about two P M. It's crazy.

• 39:31Speaker 04

  So we cannot, that's why I'm all about building a stronger local airport and plus we need headquarters here. How do you get headquarters? By having more non-stops where the board can come in.

• 39:41Speaker 02

  Right. Right now we're limited to LA, San Francisco, Dallas.

• 39:48Speaker 04

  And Denver.

• 39:49Speaker 02

  Denver, but one of the airlines dropped their Denver.

• 39:52Speaker 04

  Well, that actually, that's just a three month, which happened last year.

• 39:56Speaker 02

  Oh, gotcha.

• 39:57Speaker 04

  Pause. That's true. That's Dallas.

• 39:59Speaker 02

  I see.

• 40:00Speaker 04

  Yeah. So that will be coming back.

• 40:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, but like you said, we get more numbers, we get up around that five hundred and then airlines start paying more attention to us.

• 40:09Speaker 04

  We know the airlines are full, right? Whenever you're on there, pretty much they're always packed, right?

• 40:13Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 40:13Speaker 04

  So, yeah, but, but he's, you know, he, as he says, when you get out, you come out of the gate, you feel like you're in Bakersfield. So he's going to make, make it a Bakersfield experience.

• 40:25Speaker 02

  That's great. I, I, I love the. The hanging.

• 40:31Speaker 04

  Oh, right. The.

• 40:33Speaker 02

  Airship. I can't remember what it's called. It's not straddle launch because now I've got straddle launch on my head, but it's composite.

• 40:39Speaker 04

  Yeah, scale composite.

• 40:40Speaker 02

  Scale composites, that cool.

• 40:41Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 40:43Speaker 03

  It's a cool terminal.

• 40:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, it's nice.

• 40:46Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's nice.

• 40:46Speaker 04

  Well, I know it'd be great if they have a restaurant, you know, lounge where, you know, you before the gate like many, the airport used to have in the way back.

• 40:56Speaker 02

  That's right. That's right. It did. And it was good. Yeah. It had periods of time where it was really good.

• 41:00Speaker 04

  Okay, yeah.

• 41:01Speaker 02

  I can't remember what it was called, but yeah, that was a cool restaurant. Um, speaking of straddle launch, though, uh, the, the world's largest aircraft is right here in our backyard.

• 41:12Speaker 04

  Yeah, we'll be out there tomorrow. We're touring a state official, uh, both to Pacific Steel and straddle launch Mojave. Yeah, they're, they're growing by leaps and bounds. Um, and it's all about hypersonic testing. So the plane is actually carrying. The payload is, or the, is a Talon. If you see the small craft in the middle.

• 41:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 41:33Speaker 04

  Between the two fused airplanes.

• 41:35Speaker 02

  Right.

• 41:35Speaker 04

  And so that will be hypersonic testing, which is Mach five or six plus. I think they've reached that. They have reached that.

• 41:42Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 41:43Speaker 04

  And so, and then within payload within that Talon, it's called the Talon.

• 41:47Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 41:48Speaker 04

  So, um, yeah, that's, that's amazing story. Uh, Paul Allen was the original founder.

• 41:54Speaker 02

  That's it. Yeah, Paul Allen.

• 41:55Speaker 04

  And so, you know, we, our, our spaceport has had, you know, Richard Branson's, Paul Allen's of the world. And there's 60, there's, um, I think, uh, what is it? 60, 70 companies.

• 42:06Speaker 02

  Out there at the Mojave Spaceport.

• 42:07Speaker 04

  3,000 employees.

• 42:09Speaker 02

  What's it, what's it like out there? Can, like, is there a visitor's center?

• 42:13Speaker 04

  Well, the Voyagers, an amazing restaurant on the tarmac.

• 42:16Speaker 02

  Oh, nice.

• 42:16Speaker 04

  Talk about great restaurant.

• 42:18Speaker 02

  Out there in Mojave?

• 42:19Speaker 04

  Yep. You can, it's accessible to the public. Uh, you hear languages from around the world. Uh, it's a just, that's, that now there's basically all the research is done, right? Kind of like, it is private research, um, in the hangars, you know, like China Lake is, is government research. Um, yeah, straddle launch and others. Obviously have to, you know, go through a process to be able to visit them.

• 42:42Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 42:43Speaker 04

  But the Voyager, I would, anytime you're in Mojave, stop by, stop by the Voyager is one of the best restaurants that in the county.

• 42:50Speaker 02

  Nice tip. No, that's great. Yeah, I'll be driving through Mojave in a few weeks. So I'd like to check that out.

• 42:57Speaker 04

  Yeah, you'll see airplane, I'll experimental, again, you're on the tarmac.

• 43:01Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 43:02Speaker 04

  So you will see the planes.

• 43:03Speaker 02

  That's cool. You could sit and have lunch while you're watching.

• 43:06Speaker 03

  With Gave too.

• 43:06Speaker 04

  You can hear there in control.

• 43:08Speaker 03

  Weekend, a weekend trip, yeah.

• 43:10Speaker 02

  We talked about Strata Launch on this show, was it last week or week before?

• 43:12Speaker 03

  With John Cox, last week.

• 43:14Speaker 02

  That's right. There was some news because they got a big private equity injection.

• 43:18Speaker 04

  Right. I know. Was it servers before was the main one? And then who the new, the new partner?

• 43:23Speaker 02

  Yeah. Which, you know, shows that, you know, there's some viable, it's a, it's, you know, it's more of a viable business in terms of, you know, get doing this, the supersonic testing. There's not, I don't know if any, maybe the only one.

• 43:37Speaker 04

  Hypersonic, yeah.

• 43:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, private hypersonic testing that can be done, which is really cool.

• 43:42Speaker 04

  Right. They're not in the space tourism business like other.

• 43:45Speaker 02

  Right.

• 43:45Speaker 04

  But they're just in that testing, which is obviously pretty much gets significant support, not just federal as well, but as well as Wall Street. I guess you could argue, you know, you could say Wall Street money.

• 44:01Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 44:02Speaker 04

  Much like the Hydra Store project as that moves forward.

• 44:05Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 44:06Speaker 04

  That has Wall Street money as well. They just announced a partnership with Baker Hughes. So.

• 44:11Speaker 02

  Oh, sweet.

• 44:12Speaker 04

  So that's what we always look at these projects as they gain momentum. Who are the partners? Where's the money coming from? Is it diversified?

• 44:19Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 44:20Speaker 04

  And then typically those are the ingredients you need to get it to the finish line.

• 44:24Speaker 02

  Yeah. Now let's talk about what's, what else is going on with KEDC upcoming activities?

• 44:30Speaker 04

  Sure. We have some events that we're partnering on. There's the inaugural Kern County Healthcare Summit, which is, you know, the fastest growing sector in our economy. It's a project of the next 10 years.

• 44:42Speaker 02

  Is it, is it healthcare?

• 44:43Speaker 04

  Yeah, healthcare. And so we, we have, we've, we obviously.

• 44:48Speaker 04

  We host the Energy Summit. We partner on the Economic Summit, which is May 7. This year, there'll be, there's a significant number of supporters, both financial sponsors as well as partners. And we basically have all the healthcare entities, almost all the healthcare entities at the table.

• 45:07Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 45:09Speaker 04

  There'll be discussion about capital projects in Kern, how that infrastructure evolving. There'll be conversations related to AI and how that is going to impact the industry. And then even more technical like Medicare, Medi-Cal, sustainability. It's a half-day event. Tickets are free.

• 45:30Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 45:30Speaker 04

  So I'm sure it's gonna sell out.

• 45:32Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's a good price. I like those prices.

• 45:34Speaker 04

  It's at Bakersfield College. So this is the thing, I mean, basically every month, you know, there's significant events to showcase our economy and so.

• 45:44Speaker 03

  Are they gonna talk about any additional hospitals that are gonna be coming to Kern County and Bakersfield?

• 45:49Speaker 04

  What will be, what will be capital projects that are down the line? I mean, obviously, we're a growing region. We're in aging like most of the country. The beauty about what's happening in Kern is most type of services, we are local, right? We don't have to go over the hill.

• 46:07Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 46:08Speaker 04

  So that's amazing how the infrastructure, the ecosystems developed the last few decades. And the quality of service has just continued, we're continuing to raise the bar.

• 46:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, that's cool. Again, this is the inaugural Kern County Healthcare Summit coming up Tuesday, March 3 at Bakersfield College. It's free, but you gotta get tickets. And so look into that. And then you said the Economic Summit.

• 46:32Speaker 04

  The Economic Summit's May 7. Stay tuned for the save the date. It will be sent out, but it is May 7 at the Marriott. There'll be, that's the partnership between the EDC, Cal State University, Bakersfield, and the Greater Bakersfield Chamber.

• 46:47Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 46:48Speaker 04

  It will be, it will be like last year, multi-industries will be, you know, commentary.

• 46:58Speaker 04

  We like to have, of course, cover the whole county. So, and then iconic projects, like last year, we had a discussion about projects like the Pacific Steel and Hard Rock and others. That, so we always want folks in the, in the room to, to, you know, be up to date and, and put these projects on their radar screen that they may not be aware of.

• 47:20Speaker 02

  If people aren't aware of what you do, I, I like to describe your job as essentially a cheerleader for the county to bring in large employers, you know, bringing in industry into our.

• 47:36Speaker 04

  Yeah, and grow. So the thing we want to make sure is that most of the growth in any economy are from local companies. They don't make the headlines, but they grow five, 10 at a time. So we oversee a manufacturing alliance of Kern. And, you know, most employers are, you know, under 100, 100 jobs. So if we can get the smaller companies move here and grow. But, but we have mainly the industrial type clients, be it distribution, manufacturing. And so we want to continue to promote that public and private sector work together to support these type of jobs. NIMBYism is a big issue now around the country, which you know, NIMBYism, right?

• 48:20Speaker 03

  No, explain, please.

• 48:22Speaker 04

  Not in my backyard.

• 48:23Speaker 03

  Oh, not, yeah, you did tell me about this last Wednesday.

• 48:26Speaker 04

  So there's also Banana, Build Actually, Nothing, Anywhere Near Anybody.

• 48:30Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 48:30Speaker 04

  But what we see is that a, most of the counties surrounding us in California, that any project, we like these ones that have recently been approved or built, there would be significant groups of folks that would oppose it. And we don't see that happening here. Good jobs, it's pretty much apolitical, there's support. And so we can pretty much guarantee if you have a good, good jobs, good projects, that they, they will be able to, you know, move, move ahead. That's not the case. And so this is really impacting, even office, around the country office, but particularly industrial. Type projects.

• 49:09Speaker 02

  Yeah, there's a general sense of government, especially in California, of governments not being friendly to new business. Like, not new business, but like, uh, yeah, it to industry.

• 49:21Speaker 04

  Right, well, you're here, well, you have these jobs, but there's gonna be traffic, yes, because people are going to travel to the work. And then there's gonna be, you know, there's gonna be, you know, if it's, if it's recreation, guess what? People want to go spend money. So you cannot just have a, um, you know, uh, there's always an impact, but the fiscal, the financial, fiscal impact is so significantly higher. Terms of that mitigation, you have, uh, we can show the pluses are far outweigh, uh, the, the, any potential con. I mean, uh, traffic is not a bad thing if that means people are going to work and coming back to work.

• 49:58Speaker 04

  Or people are visiting, uh, this recreation center. So we always try to show that, that, um, um, you know, you want that one to one ratio of how, for every one house. In a community, there should be one job. So, um, this is something we continually, um, make sure to, uh, be an ambassador to. Showing the value of, of a good job and even on outcomes, not just wage, but even health outcomes increase significantly if somebody has a good paying job.

• 50:24Speaker 02

  What, what challenges do you hear from prospects that are coming to our county of thinking of setting up shop here? What are some of the challenges that they express?

• 50:32Speaker 04

  I mean, nationally, the biggest challenge is now has moved to the top is, um, is, uh, power. Power availability. And so this is not just in our region, but California and then nationwide.

• 50:46Speaker 02

  Wow, just access to energy.

• 50:48Speaker 03

  Because of the AI centers?

• 50:50Speaker 04

  Uh, well, those are data centers, uh, but right now it's just getting, uh, getting the last mile. Just have, it's kind of like if you have this project on rail, it doesn't guarantee service. You have to make sure that the rail is going to provide service. So our thing is having shovel ready sites. That, uh, we know, yeah, workforce is still in the top three, but power, power is a, um, is a significant issue. But, and you know, we, um, so that, that's something. That is in terms of economic development moving forward. Yes, the data centers. Now we know most of the demand increase, or at least half's going to be from data centers. So that's going to put upward pressure, right, on on cost.

• 51:34Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 51:35Speaker 04

  But again, we can pretty much on the regulatory side, we can win that battle, but we still have to work and we are working with various groups to make sure that we have that power availability, especially at these industrial sites.

• 51:50Speaker 02

  Yeah, and then now you're working with PG&E, which is

• 51:54Speaker 04

  SoCal Edison.

• 51:55Speaker 02

  And SoCal Edison, you know, those can be challenging to work with.

• 51:59Speaker 04

  The CPUC.

• 52:01Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 52:01Speaker 04

  So you have you have the regulatory, you know, and then obviously, you know, water, not not for us in terms of our clients, not as big, but for data centers, that's that is a big requirement and part of that site selection deck that we deal with.

• 52:21Speaker 02

  Anything exciting coming up? Anything you can share?

• 52:23Speaker 04

  Anything exciting? Well.

• 52:24Speaker 02

  I know there's stuff you can't share. You've always got your secrets.

• 52:27Speaker 04

  We have about 25, no, 30 projects right now, mostly from new investment coming in. We have a couple of data centers, but we probably those are pretty much a long shot. But we have a significant manufacturing Hydra store again. They just got California Energy Commission approval. So as that moves forward, that's a $1.5 billion investment. We do have a couple of industrial projects, which probably in the next, next, next time our mod, I can

• 53:00Speaker 02

  You can talk about it.

• 53:01Speaker 04

  Right, we sign NDAs, oftentimes we have project names.

• 53:04Speaker 02

  Right.

• 53:05Speaker 04

  But it's exciting because that's the lifeblood of what we do, or the project pipeline.

• 53:09Speaker 02

  Right.

• 53:09Speaker 04

  And it's picking up because there was a lull last year, but January has really started off with a bang. So we have a couple of new industrial projects where we have a pretty good shot of landing.

• 53:20Speaker 02

  I'm guessing like some of the tariff stuff that's calmed down, there's been some economic forces that have maybe incentivized more of this.

• 53:28Speaker 04

  Yeah, tariffs are still, obviously, you've got Rio Tenno that what 20 to 30% of their products is exported to China.

• 53:34Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 53:35Speaker 04

  So tariffs are still in the top of five right now.

• 53:38Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 53:39Speaker 04

  You know, in terms of steel and other, you know, construction costs.

• 53:44Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 53:45Speaker 04

  Because they have gone up significantly for especially industrial projects.

• 53:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 53:49Speaker 04

  So, but again, if we can provide a site and the pretty much, you know, business, education, and government working together, then I think, you know, we can win that battle.

• 54:00Speaker 02

  Oh, keep up the good work, Richard.

• 54:02Speaker 04

  Thank you.

• 54:02Speaker 02

  Thank you so much for coming on the show. That's Richard Chapman.

• 54:04Speaker 03

  Thank you very much.

• 54:05Speaker 04

  Thank you.

• 54:05Speaker 02

  CEO of Kern Economic Development Corporation. You can find out more on their website about these upcoming activities. This is a great way to kind of know what's going on in industry in Kern County. And love it. Love what you're doing. Thanks. Thanks again, Richard. Want to remind all of our listeners, if you missed this show or any of our past shows, go subscribe to Money Wise Podcast, commercial free on all major platforms. And remember these three things. Be smart, be safe, and always be money wise.

• 54:31Speaker 01

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