8/6/25 Chapman Chronicles: The Latest on Kern's Business Scene

The Moneywise Radio Show and Podcast Wednesday, August 6th BE MONEYWISE. Moneywise Wealth Management I "The Moneywise Guys" 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 Kern Economic Development Corporation website: https://kernedc.com/

• 0:00Speaker 00

  From the Garo Ellis padded radio room off Stockdale Highway, here is Money Wise. Call or text into the show 24/7 at 396-1000.

• 0:39Speaker 00

  Here is Money Wise.

• 0:40Speaker 01

  Money, money, money, money. Welcome to the Money Wise Show. We are live from the Garo Ellis padded radio room off Stockdale Highway on ESPN Bakersfield 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. Today, we are your hosts. I'm Sharad Waite and...

• 1:04Speaker 02

  I am Emily Waite.

• 1:05Speaker 01

  Hey, Em.

• 1:06Speaker 02

  Hello.

• 1:07Speaker 01

  I want to get to a couple of listener messages that we got.

• 1:12Speaker 02

  Yes, I see them right here. Would you like me to read them for you?

• 1:16Speaker 01

  Please.

• 1:16Speaker 02

  Okay, great. "My brother is making $300 to $400 a day just by Ubering, and I was just wondering if they get taxed at the end of the year like a normal job. I'm trying to warn him to stop blowing his money like he stole it, lol."

• 1:31Speaker 01

  I like that. That's funny, spending money like you stole it.

• 1:36Speaker 02

  Spending money like you stole it. You haven't heard that one before?

• 1:38Speaker 01

  I think it's been a while, if I have heard it. What's interesting is this question is saying, you know, how is the income that somebody earns while driving for Uber compared to a regular job? I'm assuming that means, you know, most jobs are your W-2. You're a W-2 employee, which means you're not an independent contractor. You get...

• 2:02Speaker 01

  You know, your employer is in charge of, you know, pulling out your, your taxes, paying for certain things like unemployment insurance and workers' comp. And, you know, there's, there's a slew of things that the employers are responsible for. And then at the end of the day, your paycheck is whatever's left from your paycheck. That's what you take home. Whereas independent contractors.

• 2:25Speaker 02

  This is like the gig economy, right?

• 2:28Speaker 01

  It's the gig economy. And that is, in large part, people are not paid W-2 wages. They're paid as an, as, as an independent contractor. I mean, they're just paid cash from either their clients or from, you know, whatever service that they're providing. And that is also taxable. It's any income that you earn is taxable, no matter what, no matter if you are a independent contractor or an employee of the company.

• 2:58Speaker 02

  Right.

• 2:58Speaker 01

  And so, you know, the, the real quick answer is, yeah, you, you have to, you have to pay taxes at the end of the year. But there are some interesting distinctions when it comes to Uber drivers. So, again, they're not employees, so they don't have taxes withheld from their earnings. That means they're responsible to pay the taxes themselves. Usually that's quarterly. So essentially, you're self-employed when you're driving for Uber. And you are still on the hook to pay the normal, not all, but most of the normal taxes and, you know, charges that employers have.

• 3:41Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 3:42Speaker 01

  And that includes paying into social security and Medicare. And if you are an employee, you are, you are paying for that out of your paycheck, and your employer is required to match that, to match that contribution into Medicare and social security. It's about. Just like seven and a half percent, just over seven and a half percent that that has to come out of your paycheck to pay for Medicare and Social Security and the employer pays that again. So that's a total of about 15.3% in self-employment tax that an Uber driver would still be responsible to pay. So they have to pay their own and then they

• 4:21Speaker 01

  have to match it as if they're their their own employer. And you are responsible for, you know, paying the taxes, which is usually quarterly. And that is a standard practice for anybody who is self-employed. So the good news is that Uber drivers can deduct some of their business-related expenses. For example, mileage, if that's there's a there's a certain amount of money per mile that you are allowed to deduct as sort of the cost for driving around. I believe that in 2025, that's somewhere around 67 cents a mile. But that means that the Uber drivers have to keep track of their mileage.

• 5:05Speaker 01

  And they're also, they can deduct car maintenance and depreciation, phone and data costs, your tolls, or parking, parking charges. Or if you've got a really good brother or a really good Uber driver, supplies like waters or snacks that they're providing for passengers. This only happened a couple of times to us.

• 5:26Speaker 02

  Mm hmm.

• 5:27Speaker 01

  Right?

• 5:27Speaker 02

  Right.

• 5:28Speaker 01

  And they're like, wow, this is a fancy Uber driver. When they, would you like a bottle of water?

• 5:32Speaker 02

  Or some mints or something.

• 5:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 5:34Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 5:34Speaker 01

  It's kind of nice. So you can deduct those mints or that bottled water. Because it's essentially a business expense.

• 5:40Speaker 02

  But it sounds like this person needs to have a talk with their brother about that.

• 5:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, because if they're just spending, that's a

• 5:46Speaker 02

  Then they're gonna have to pay taxes on it. They're not thinking about that.

• 5:49Speaker 01

  That's right. Because Uber will send a 1099, which is that tax reporting that goes to the IRS that shows how much they paid out. And so they're gonna have that reported and

• 6:06Speaker 02

  Right.

• 6:06Speaker 01

  The Uber driver is going to have to justify, well, you have to reclaim that as income and justify the expenses, but that is one of many reasons why a lot of people don't go into business for themselves. Because you have to be disciplined in making sure you're paying your taxes.

• 6:25Speaker 02

  Right. You have to set it aside.

• 6:27Speaker 01

  Yes. Right.

• 6:29Speaker 02

  Because you know you're going to have to pay it. So $300 to $400 a day, they need to do the math on that and then set that aside.

• 6:36Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 6:36Speaker 02

  Pay their taxes at the end of the quarter.

• 6:38Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 6:39Speaker 00

  They, she followed up and said, yeah, he denies it and takes it as tips like he's a delivery driver.

• 6:46Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 6:47Speaker 01

  We talked about this yesterday a little bit with John Duffield, how tips, part of the new big, beautiful bill is that tips are not taxed as, in most cases, they're not taxed as ordinary income, like taxable income. Just crazy, right? And so, yeah, I mean, some of that, some of that would be tips, but I'm assuming that Uber in their 1099 will break down the difference between, you know, some of these expenses and some of these income, like.

• 7:16Speaker 02

  They should be helping their workers to figure that out, is what you're saying?

• 7:20Speaker 01

  Yeah, and they'll have it broken down between what was a tip and what was a fare, what was it, you know, income.

• 7:28Speaker 02

  Interesting.

• 7:29Speaker 01

  So that should, my guess is that would be part of that 1099.

• 7:32Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 7:33Speaker 01

  So, yeah, that's, that's pretty good money, though. I mean, it's okay money, I guess, three or 400 bucks a day, driving.

• 7:38Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, that's another thing, is you have to be really disciplined about getting out there and taking all the rides and making sure you're, you know, working all those hours, I suppose, but it sounds like this person's doing a decent amount of money.

• 7:50Speaker 01

  There was a study that came out, I don't know if you remember when California had a ballot initiative to require. Workers in the gig economy, it was mostly geared towards Uber and Lyft and making them W2 employees instead of

• 8:03Speaker 02

  Yes, I do remember that.

• 8:04Speaker 01

  Independent contractors. So there was a lot of like ads thrown at us and arguments about, you know, why we should vote one way or another. And during that time, there was a study that came out trying to calculate how much the Uber drivers were actually making on an hourly basis.

• 8:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, it seemed like it was low.

• 8:21Speaker 01

  Like below minimum wage.

• 8:22Speaker 02

  That's what I remember. It was like, ugh.

• 8:25Speaker 01

  Right, because

• 8:26Speaker 02

  When you account for all this stuff.

• 8:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:28Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 8:29Speaker 01

  Insurance.

• 8:29Speaker 02

  Gas.

• 8:30Speaker 01

  Mileage, depreciation.

• 8:31Speaker 02

  Yes, right.

• 8:33Speaker 01

  Maintenance.

• 8:34Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 8:34Speaker 01

  Those, those types of things, then you start getting it down. So, but you know, three or 400 bucks a day might, I don't know what it would turn out to, but you're right. You have to be smart about, you know, how much you're taking in and how much you're driving and, you know, how much, you know, all that stuff.

• 8:51Speaker 02

  Do the maths.

• 8:52Speaker 01

  Do the maths.

• 8:52Speaker 02

  Or let your AI robot help you do the maths.

• 8:55Speaker 01

  That's another great suggestion. It's certainly as good as that.

• 8:58Speaker 00

  Get back into the robot talk.

• 9:00Speaker 01

  Oh, gosh. Yeah, we talked a lot about robots yesterday.

• 9:02Speaker 02

  Okay, so I will steer clear.

• 9:03Speaker 01

  Well, yeah.

• 9:05Speaker 00

  They're listening.

• 9:06Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:07Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 9:07Speaker 01

  Another, another

• 9:08Speaker 02

  No, I got another one here for you, actually, that just came in.

• 9:11Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 9:11Speaker 02

  Throw it out to you. Do the Teslas have a car wash function? I saw a story where a guy washed his Cybertruck and it wouldn't start after he washed it. He contacted Tesla support and they told him he needed to put his truck in car wash mode prior to the wash, which they said was in the owner's manual and there was nothing they could do to help him. He basically destroyed his Cybertruck with a bath, lol. We will see you guys soon for a burger and shake. So this, I had a Tesla, I don't anymore, but there is definitely a car wash mode function and it would take me, every time I would drive up to the car wash, I would freak out a little bit about like making sure I got it in car wash mode correctly. And listen to what I found out from the robot overlords.

• 9:56Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 9:57Speaker 02

  Tesla vehicles, including Cybertruck, have a car wash mode feature and the story is unfortunately true. Multiple documented cases of Cybertrucks being damaged. They actually don't recommend you take it through an automatic car wash, but they do provide the mode for those who choose to do so. Failure may result in damage. The incidents that this person is referring to have been reported multiple times. In one case, an owner simply sprayed his truck with water at a service station. Within 10 seconds of high-pressure rinsing, the Cybertruck went completely dark, frozen touchscreen, doors that wouldn't open.

• 10:28Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 10:29Speaker 02

  Another owner reported $80,000 truck became a quote "paperweight" after a wash.

• 10:34Speaker 01

  What is it? What, because they don't, when it rains?

• 10:37Speaker 02

  It's designed, okay, car wash mode is, yeah, good question. It says it's designed to close windows, lock the charge port, disable windshield wipers, and put the vehicle in a safe state for washing. The fact that water can disable such an expensive vehicle so easily has been a source of criticism.

• 10:51Speaker 01

  Well, yeah.

• 10:52Speaker 02

  Obviously. No, I don't know. I would be so mad.

• 10:56Speaker 01

  I, I-

• 10:56Speaker 02

  Hand washing might be a safer option.

• 10:58Speaker 01

  I wonder if it's the also, it, the, uh, something to do with the charging port or something like that?

• 11:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's what it said. Yeah. It locks the charge port.

• 11:08Speaker 01

  So that maybe if it's not locked, but, but I wonder what happens? I'm still confused about what, when it rains or it's pouring down, you'd think you'd have the same issue. I remember with your old Tesla that you used to have.

• 11:20Speaker 02

  Uh huh.

• 11:20Speaker 01

  You were, it took you a while to figure out the, the wash mode?

• 11:23Speaker 02

  I would get so frazzled before I would put it in, yeah.

• 11:26Speaker 01

  And because you don't, it doesn't have the traditional neutral.

• 11:29Speaker 02

  It doesn't.

• 11:29Speaker 01

  Like gear shift.

• 11:30Speaker 02

  Right.

• 11:31Speaker 01

  And so it won't free roll unless you put it in that mode. That's wild.

• 11:36Speaker 02

  Oh my gosh, Sherrod, listen to this.

• 11:38Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 11:39Speaker 02

  What about when it rains? That's a question many people have been asking. The contradiction is even more concerning when you look at real-world rain experiences. Some trucks develop orange rust marks in the rain. Um, there've been incidents where Cybertrucks have taken damage just from crossing puddles. Um, Tesla claims it should have no problem, but it's just irony. They don't know why it happens. It's a weird middle ground where normal rain usually doesn't kill it, but concentrated water exposure like a car wash can.

• 12:08Speaker 01

  That is so weird.

• 12:11Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 12:11Speaker 01

  That is so weird.

• 12:12Speaker 02

  Okay, back to money stuff.

• 12:14Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 12:15Speaker 02

  We hear a lot of political talk about tariffs, but from an economic standpoint, why does the size of a tariff have a bigger impact than the fact that it exists at all? This is a great question.

• 12:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's a good question. It, I, I interpret that question to read, you know, why, why are tariffs, why do tariffs have a disproportionate impact above just whatever they're charging?

• 12:38Speaker 02

  Right.

• 12:38Speaker 01

  And we talked, we talked about this again yesterday, yesterday's show, if you've missed it, or maybe it was day before, two days ago, we talked about tariffs and the impact. There's been some interesting studies about the impact of tariffs. There was a trade partnership study, for example, that calculated tariff costs, close to $550,000 per net job gained. So.

• 12:59Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 13:00Speaker 01

  And, and then there was a separate, another study that was separate, that was just geared towards the steel jobs or the, I guess, the steel industry.

• 13:10Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 13:11Speaker 01

  And the, the research found that there were approximately, when there were, when there was a steel tariffs that were put in, in the 20 teens, there was an increase in steel prices of about 10% in steel prices in the United States. And that 10% increase in steel prices cost consumers about 11 and a half billion dollars annually. Because remember, a tariff, that, that charge is almost always trickled down to the consumer.

• 13:52Speaker 02

  Right.

• 13:52Speaker 01

  Those, those costs and those prices, just we end up paying them.

• 13:55Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 13:55Speaker 01

  By, by the company that just increases the cost of their good, of their product to cover the tariff cost. So the consumer ends up paying it. So in this case, consumers ended up paying an 11 and a half billion dollars more a year for steel. And that saved, the, the steel industry from the tariffs estimated that they saved about 9,000. Three hundred steel jobs because of the tariffs. But if you do the math, that's about nine hundred thousand dollars per job.

• 14:26Speaker 02

  It's a drop in the bucket. Well, no.

• 14:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, right. It's it's not many jobs created for that much money.

• 14:33Speaker 02

  The compare contrast. Yeah.

• 14:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's just it just doesn't make any sense. It's just, there's so many reasons why tariffs just don't work like you might think they do. There was a Yale Budget Lab project that was in 2020, just this year. And they estimated that tariffs were shaving or would shave off from gross domestic product. So the growth of our of our national economy. Point five to point seven percentage percent from the overall economy, which is a lot of money. That's about a hundred and ten billion dollars in annual output.

• 15:19Speaker 01

  And would lead to about five hundred thousand fewer jobs by the end of 2025. Wharton Budget Model in April of 2025 predicted that a long run GDP decline of about six percent. And wages of a decline of about five percent. With a typical medical middle income household. Facing a loss of about twenty two thousand dollars over their over their lifetime due to tariffs. And that is, I think that's the most important story is that. It's the consumer that ends up paying this. It makes it makes consumerism less functional.

• 16:04Speaker 01

  It weighs down on the free market economy. And, you know, studies basically show that the they. It's not good for jobs. It's not good for economic growth. And those countries that do have tariffs and higher tariffs. They found a correlation with persistent declines in output growth. So there's just, there's just, I just, there, it's like a.

• 16:36Speaker 02

  This is pretty... Sorry, go ahead. I didn't mean to interrupt.

• 16:39Speaker 01

  It's like a medieval tactic, you know, that doesn't... It just doesn't work in today's global economy, tariff.

• 16:48Speaker 02

  Yeah. Okay, two questions. First, did it ever work?

• 16:54Speaker 01

  They can work for certain things. Like, I believe that, you know, that the White House is using tariffs right now to push other agendas.

• 17:05Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 17:05Speaker 01

  Whether or not that is, you know, is appropriate, or whether it's not even true that there's these issues and that, you know, the tariffs are trying to do that, that's how historically they've been used as, like, in retaliation to some other unfair practice.

• 17:19Speaker 02

  Right.

• 17:20Speaker 01

  And there are global trade laws that are violated. And so how do you, how do you, how do you make a country pay the price for that? How do you make them, how do you make a country pay the price for, let's say, artificially inflating the price of some commodity? Or some technology, or some, some good, then you, you know, that I can see how tariffs can do that. But what we're, what we've been facing with this year are tariffs that are just blanket and large and, like, universal across countries and industries.

• 17:55Speaker 02

  So do you think the intention is still hopeful for that to be the result, some kind of strong-arming?

• 18:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 18:02Speaker 02

  But the result is different than that?

• 18:04Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 18:05Speaker 02

  It's not, it's not working?

• 18:06Speaker 01

  It's not working. I don't think it will work.

• 18:08Speaker 02

  It's pretty well understood that tariffs just affect the consumer, right? Is that a pretty broadly understood?

• 18:16Speaker 01

  Among economists.

• 18:18Speaker 02

  Oh, not among the general population?

• 18:20Speaker 01

  No. I don't think the general population understands how tariffs work. I think they think that it's a tax on the country that's exporting, rather than recognizing that it's a...

• 18:32Speaker 02

  Everything's connected.

• 18:33Speaker 01

  Yeah, that you're gonna, you're charging that company in that country...

• 18:38Speaker 01

  Just to be able to bring their product over to the United States. You don't think the company is going to eventually pass that cost on to the consumers? Like, it's a cost of doing business for that company.

• 18:50Speaker 02

  Yeah, right.

• 18:50Speaker 01

  So eventually, it's gonna, of course, it's gonna raise prices, and that's what we see. That's what we always see. And, you know, today, there's a big headline about Apple, which is coming out. There's a press conference, I don't know if it's already happened, but there was a press conference that's announced by the White House, saying that Apple, the company, is going to invest another $100 billion in the United States in an effort to do more advanced manufacturing here in the United States, rather than China and India. And it said, this is on the heels of back in February of this year, when Apple said that it was planning to spend $500 billion and was going to hire 20,000 people in the

• 19:32Speaker 01

  United States over the next four years and open a factory in Texas that was going to make the machines that were running its AI division. And, you know, Apple has made similar pledges throughout the years under the Biden administration, and then again, under President Trump's first term, but hasn't followed up on a lot of those.

• 19:53Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 19:54Speaker 01

  It's, you know, Apple is just, I think...

• 19:56Speaker 02

  All talk, no walk?

• 19:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, mostly. I think it's mostly all talk in this case. And, you know, Apple does, according to Apple, they say that they're supporting more than 450,000 American jobs with thousands of suppliers and partners across all 50 states, and that it relies on more than 3 million workers across its supply network in China, and has recently been expanding production in India. And that's something that I think the president doesn't like.

• 20:28Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:29Speaker 01

  All those millions of jobs versus the 450,000 jobs that we have here in the United States, thanks to Apple. And so, one analysis found that...

• 20:45Speaker 01

  The United States lacks a lot of the engineers, manufacturing engineers that they have in China and India. China and India have, basically have more of these engineers than we do in the United States.

• 20:58Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:59Speaker 01

  And that if we were to bring the iPhone here to the United States and develop that workforce, that it would more than double the iPhone prices.

• 21:10Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 21:10Speaker 01

  It would be like $2,000 instead of $1,000 for an iPhone.

• 21:17Speaker 01

  I don't know. It seems like people would probably still be willing to pay that. They'd just have to keep the phone a little bit longer. All right. Well, there you go, Em. Good job. We're gonna do this, take our first break. We come back, we have Richard Chapman. We're gonna talk about current economic development corporation with him and much more. Don't go anywhere.

• 21:34Speaker 00

  Are you an employee with a company-sponsored retirement plan? Do you fully understand how you're invested and whether or not you are maximizing your retirement plan's options? For more information on a free assessment, contact MoneyWise's 401(k) specialist, Justin Leland, at 661-847-1000. That's 661-847-1000.

• 22:02Speaker 01

  Here we go. Welcome back to MoneyWise.

• 22:07Speaker 01

  We're your hosts today. I'm Sherrod.

• 22:08Speaker 02

  And I'm Emily.

• 22:10Speaker 01

  That's Tears for Fears.

• 22:12Speaker 03

  Did he give you, did he let you know?

• 22:14Speaker 01

  He let me know. Yeah.

• 22:15Speaker 03

  What album?

• 22:16Speaker 01

  I don't know the album, but the, I don't remember the album. This is a deep cut. It sounds like a deep cut.

• 22:23Speaker 03

  Does that mean a long version?

• 22:25Speaker 01

  It means it's like hidden tracks.

• 22:27Speaker 02

  Not the most popular top 40 stuff.

• 22:31Speaker 03

  Actually, this is on there, that album called The Hurting, which was the precursor to Songs from the Big Chair, which had Shout, Everybody Wants to Rule the World. But this album has some amazing, Jim. This album hit it big in Europe, but not in the US. So you wanna hear?

• 22:47Speaker 02

  That's the definition of deep cut, by the way.

• 22:50Speaker 00

  Deep cuts, Jim's.

• 22:51Speaker 03

  Sorry, I'm not a millennial or...

• 22:53Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 22:54Speaker 03

  No, I saw them in 1985 in Baltimore.

• 22:57Speaker 02

  Very cool.

• 22:58Speaker 03

  The cool thing is, on YouTube, somebody taped the whole concert.

• 23:02Speaker 01

  That same concert?

• 23:02Speaker 03

  The one I went to.

• 23:04Speaker 01

  And you watched it?

• 23:04Speaker 03

  Yeah, so I can hear, I can hear it.

• 23:06Speaker 02

  You can revisit it whenever you want.

• 23:07Speaker 03

  With the crowd yelling.

• 23:09Speaker 01

  You got to relive Tears for Fears.

• 23:11Speaker 02

  I do love Tears for Fears. Yeah.

• 23:12Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 23:12Speaker 02

  They were super pop. Popular when I was a freshman in college.

• 23:16Speaker 03

  And Oasis is coming next month, right?

• 23:19Speaker 01

  They're coming to California?

• 23:20Speaker 03

  Yeah, my best friend is flying from North Carolina just to see him here.

• 23:23Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 23:24Speaker 02

  Wow, they're back together to.

• 23:26Speaker 03

  They might break up.

• 23:27Speaker 02

  You never know.

• 23:28Speaker 01

  The brothers that don't get along.

• 23:30Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 23:31Speaker 01

  Richard Chapman from Kern EDC, how are you?

• 23:35Speaker 03

  Great, exciting summer.

• 23:38Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 23:38Speaker 03

  As mentioning with the world's largest water ski tournaments in town.

• 23:42Speaker 02

  What is that about? Like, where is it? How long has it been happening here? I've never heard of this.

• 23:48Speaker 03

  It's been over 80 years.

• 23:50Speaker 02

  Oh geez.

• 23:51Speaker 03

  And they, they were last year in Kern County. But previous two years were in West Palm Beach, my birthplace.

• 23:59Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 24:00Speaker 03

  But they, they were in 20 years ago in, in Arvin at the Ski West Village.

• 24:04Speaker 02

  Okay, gotcha. So they move around?

• 24:07Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 24:07Speaker 02

  But they've been in Bakersfield the last couple of years?

• 24:09Speaker 03

  Yeah, last two years, so.

• 24:10Speaker 02

  Like Isabella?

• 24:11Speaker 03

  No, it's, they call it Ski West Village. It's south of Arvin.

• 24:15Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 24:16Speaker 03

  And there's parallel lakes, manmade lakes.

• 24:18Speaker 02

  Okay, gotcha.

• 24:19Speaker 03

  Open to the public. Go to skiwestvillage.com and we'll be out there on Friday.

• 24:27Speaker 02

  It'll be real hot, real, real hot.

• 24:29Speaker 03

  Ah, dry heat.

• 24:30Speaker 01

  A dry.

• 24:31Speaker 03

  There are tents.

• 24:32Speaker 01

  And there's water right there.

• 24:33Speaker 03

  Slalom, the jump, the Fonzie, you know, the Fonzie jump.

• 24:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:38Speaker 02

  Right where you jump the shark?

• 24:40Speaker 03

  Yes, you got, see?

• 24:41Speaker 01

  They bring sharks out there for people to jump?

• 24:43Speaker 03

  Um, yes, and, and the record apparently is about 240 feet.

• 24:48Speaker 01

  Holy cow.

• 24:49Speaker 02

  So it's a distance record, not a height one?

• 24:51Speaker 03

  No, no.

• 24:52Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 24:53Speaker 03

  And, you know, I was saying, we have the, we have the wave, not in our county, we have the wave pool, right? This surf ranch, Kelly Slater, that's up in Lemoore.

• 25:01Speaker 02

  Right.

• 25:01Speaker 03

  People come from all over the world to go on that one.

• 25:04Speaker 01

  What? I don't know about this.

• 25:06Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's a manmade wave.

• 25:07Speaker 01

  A manmade wave in Lemoore?

• 25:08Speaker 03

  Wave pool. So Kelly Slater, I guess, one of the most famous surfers.

• 25:13Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 25:13Speaker 03

  It can be yours, I think, for a group of 10, it's about.

• 25:17Speaker 01

  You can reserve it?

• 25:18Speaker 03

  Six to $8,000 a day. Maybe you'll have your company party there.

• 25:22Speaker 01

  And you, they're actually surfable waves that you can.

• 25:24Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 25:25Speaker 01

  I gotta check that out.

• 25:26Speaker 02

  And I think they can, they can adapt the kind of wave too, can't they? You can get a, I don't know the types of waves, but yeah.

• 25:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 25:33Speaker 02

  Get all the different kinds.

• 25:34Speaker 03

  I'm sure, Sharon, you would take like the 15 foot wave.

• 25:37Speaker 01

  Oh yeah, pipeline baby. I'd go all in.

• 25:40Speaker 02

  I couldn't watch. I couldn't watch.

• 25:42Speaker 03

  Yeah, and we have, you know, we have Hard Rock, talk about that. Obviously, you all, your iconic Woolworths. We're ready for that.

• 25:48Speaker 01

  Oh, we're so ready.

• 25:49Speaker 03

  The summer is ending. You know, the Hard Rock will not be open till the end of the year, but you all are coming up.

• 25:55Speaker 02

  We're coming up real close.

• 25:56Speaker 01

  Our soft opening for the Woolworths Luncheonette is going to be the first week of September.

• 26:02Speaker 03

  Great.

• 26:02Speaker 01

  So we're a month away, basically a month away from that.

• 26:05Speaker 03

  Yeah, you're making national, international news.

• 26:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, baby. We were in the Smithsonian magazine. When was it, like a month ago?

• 26:11Speaker 02

  A couple of months ago.

• 26:13Speaker 01

  Couple of months ago? They interviewed Emily like a year ago or some crazy.

• 26:18Speaker 02

  It was a while ago. I didn't even know if it was coming out.

• 26:20Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 26:21Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 26:21Speaker 03

  Well, thanks for coming on our show. That was really well received.

• 26:24Speaker 02

  That was really fun, yeah.

• 26:24Speaker 03

  People loved that. I mean, that's, we need to, as you all do a great job of talking about these upcoming activities. Economic development, tourism now is big.

• 26:33Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 26:33Speaker 03

  And so this will play new money, right? New money coming to town based on what you're doing, based on the Hard Rock. Lightning in a Bottle, I hear you all went to that.

• 26:41Speaker 02

  Yes, we did.

• 26:42Speaker 01

  Yes, we did.

• 26:43Speaker 02

  Yes, it's so amazing. They have that right in our backyard.

• 26:45Speaker 03

  Yeah, and they're coming back again.

• 26:47Speaker 02

  I'm so glad.

• 26:48Speaker 01

  They signed, they said, already signed.

• 26:50Speaker 03

  Yeah, you can, they're pre, have pre-sales right now.

• 26:52Speaker 01

  Is it, is it, did they sign a new long-term contract, do you know?

• 26:56Speaker 03

  I'm not sure if it's annual or, you know, they do it, keep it doing it on an annual basis.

• 27:01Speaker 01

  It's hard to know, because when Emily and I were there, there was all kinds of whispering going around, like, oh, this might be the last year, because it was the end of a five-year contract with the county.

• 27:10Speaker 02

  That's right. It was a five-year contract this time. I don't know if they do five years at a time or if they...

• 27:14Speaker 03

  They're moving forward.

• 27:16Speaker 02

  That's great.

• 27:17Speaker 03

  They've already had pre-sales, significant number.

• 27:19Speaker 01

  I was very impressed with Lightning in the Bottle's security and just like crowd maintenance. It was just...

• 27:25Speaker 02

  Very smooth.

• 27:26Speaker 01

  Very smooth, very chill, and I would say family-friendly.

• 27:31Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 27:32Speaker 01

  And, well, I guess kind of family-friendly.

• 27:34Speaker 02

  It depends on what you want. Like, you know, there's family-friendly stuff during the day, and then, you know, when it gets a little bit later, it's a different thing.

• 27:40Speaker 03

  So you guys were kind of the anomaly. The interesting thing is 98% of people that came to this festival did not live in Kern County.

• 27:47Speaker 01

  It shows.

• 27:49Speaker 02

  It's true, but we had like a little mini Bakersfield contingency.

• 27:52Speaker 03

  Okay, you have that delegation.

• 27:54Speaker 02

  More people, more people out there, right? We want to, we want to get one of those, they call them totems, you're familiar? We'll get the Bakersfield sign.

• 28:01Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 28:02Speaker 02

  Right? That's the idea.

• 28:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, I, we had a couple of friends who invited us and we thought, okay, you know,

• 28:08Speaker 02

  We'll try it out.

• 28:09Speaker 01

  We gotta try this out and I think we were both sold on it and it was a group of us Bakersfield people.

• 28:13Speaker 02

  Oh wow, this is really incredible.

• 28:17Speaker 03

  What, so did it, it was, what time did it end, in the evening?

• 28:20Speaker 02

  Well, you can end whenever you want.

• 28:22Speaker 03

  Okay, right.

• 28:23Speaker 02

  I mean, some people go, literally go all night long.

• 28:25Speaker 03

  Okay, you could RV.

• 28:26Speaker 02

  We camped out.

• 28:27Speaker 01

  We camped out there.

• 28:27Speaker 03

  And you can see internationally, we got the number of media impressions, you know, I think it was like 1.5,

• 28:36Speaker 03

  don't quote me, like billion, or there was just,

• 28:38Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 28:39Speaker 03

  There was, there was such amazing, the influencers

• 28:44Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 28:44Speaker 03

  Were, were telling the story of lightning in a bottle, well-known influencers.

• 28:49Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 28:49Speaker 03

  And, and then saying how much they love Kern County and, I mean, it's the great PR, right?

• 28:55Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 28:56Speaker 02

  It's true.

• 28:57Speaker 03

  To promote our county.

• 28:58Speaker 02

  Well, and you know, this last couple of years, I'm not sure if you're familiar, but we've had a few, the few, first few Bakersfield musicians have been invited out there.

• 29:05Speaker 03

  Oh, see, that's, that would be.

• 29:06Speaker 02

  There was one, two years ago, and this year there were two of them.

• 29:09Speaker 01

  Right.

• 29:10Speaker 02

  And they want to have more Bakersfield musicians out there, so get a little, get a little Bakersfield sound going.

• 29:15Speaker 03

  I mean, there were, there were 200 bands, right?

• 29:18Speaker 02

  I mean, I couldn't keep track.

• 29:20Speaker 01

  It was all day.

• 29:22Speaker 02

  The best part was, we watched our friends perform their country, right?

• 29:26Speaker 03

  What were they called?

• 29:28Speaker 02

  Devon Brinsfield.

• 29:30Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 29:30Speaker 01

  Devon Brinsfield and Mike Peters?

• 29:32Speaker 02

  Paige in the Overtones.

• 29:34Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 29:35Speaker 02

  So, but, but the people walking through our stage, it was sort of in the middle of the day. This is not what you typically expect at EDM festivals, this country music, but everyone would stop and just really get into the groove and just loved it. They were being exposed to this totally different music and everyone loved the heck out of it.

• 29:53Speaker 03

  Yeah, I mean, and that, well, so I know one of the, I didn't know one, there were 200 bands listed, how many did you know out of that list?

• 30:00Speaker 01

  I think I knew like two.

• 30:02Speaker 02

  Two, three.

• 30:03Speaker 01

  One or two, maybe three.

• 30:04Speaker 02

  Those two from Bakersfield and then one other.

• 30:06Speaker 01

  Oh yeah, yeah, there are three. It's all EDM, so it's not like, it's not our jam.

• 30:11Speaker 02

  It's a different kind of, yeah, a different kind of music, but. It doesn't, it doesn't matter. That's not our gem. We still loved it.

• 30:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:18Speaker 03

  Yeah, again, I'm looking at some of the data from a recent one, a couple of years, like, yeah, a couple of hundred, over 150 million social impressions. The editorial reach is two, two million. And then 159 articles from a couple of years. So that's the point is this is much like your, if you do the deep dive on Woolworths. So this is the thing, we all have to, we all have to, how are we better ambassadors for Kern, Bakersfield? We have awesome story to tell.

• 30:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:46Speaker 03

  And we can't assume that people know it, like the water ski tournament. People weren't aware.

• 30:49Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 30:50Speaker 03

  Hard Rock, we all know about it, but some, you know, folks say, well, a cafe is coming. Well, there will be a cafe, but there'll be a casino with 3,000 sluts. There'll be four, at least four restaurants to begin, and then the hotel, and then the venue.

• 31:05Speaker 01

  And the venue will be last?

• 31:06Speaker 03

  The venue will be the second phase with the hotel, and that will be up to 2,000 seats is from what we hear.

• 31:12Speaker 01

  That's a nice venue. That's a good sized venue.

• 31:15Speaker 02

  That's so great. It'll be, bring people into Bakersfield, hopefully.

• 31:19Speaker 03

  And I, and there, even in LA, you're seeing during the Olympics and the World Cup, this marketing down as the LA casino, right? Because they know, we're going to have people coming over the hill, spending, staying a couple of days and then leaving, right?

• 31:34Speaker 02

  Right.

• 31:34Speaker 03

  And so that's new money that we really need.

• 31:37Speaker 02

  Into town in Bakersfield and we'll show them how cool we are.

• 31:39Speaker 03

  Yes. I mean, that's what, that's what we're here for.

• 31:43Speaker 01

  Richard Chapman again, joining us from Kern EDC. You mentioned promoting, and you've done a really great job, Richard, with the Where Business is Boundless, the TV and video series. It's on Channel 17. Is that when it?

• 31:55Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's on our website, kernedc.com. Emily was, her episode was posted recently. We just had Dr. Harper from CSUB.

• 32:04Speaker 01

  Nice.

• 32:04Speaker 03

  Hard Rock is going to come on in a couple of weeks.

• 32:07Speaker 01

  Sweet.

• 32:07Speaker 03

  And again, we can never assume that people know what is happening in our own backyard. And we're, we potentially, think about even folks looking for a job. Well, if they're not aware of these projects, the employers are not going to get the resumes they need, and the, our residents are not going to get the opportunities. For upward mobility that they all deserve, right?

• 32:27Speaker 01

  Right.

• 32:27Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 32:28Speaker 01

  And I'm looking at the list. You've had a ton of guests on the show.

• 32:33Speaker 03

  Emily was a return guest. I think you were.

• 32:36Speaker 02

  I was one of the first, I think.

• 32:38Speaker 03

  For a first return?

• 32:39Speaker 02

  I think that's what you told me, yeah.

• 32:41Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 32:42Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:42Speaker 03

  Backed by popular demand.

• 32:44Speaker 01

  Very popular. You've had Hydra Store.

• 32:48Speaker 03

  Yeah, I was just talking. That project is a $2 billion capital investment in Rosamont. It's going through the California Energy Commission process. Hopefully have conclusions by the end of the year, but that's 500 million a year economic direct and indirect impact.

• 33:08Speaker 01

  Unbelievable. Is that where they're going to be putting, pressurizing essentially the ground?

• 33:15Speaker 03

  It's an underground. It's a 500-megawatt, eight-hour storage. So, you know, the priorities we hear, especially at the federal level, are we want energy storage and production. That's happening. Yesterday in East Kern, Aravon had a ribbon cutting. That is a $2 billion solar storage project.

• 33:35Speaker 01

  $2 billion?

• 33:36Speaker 03

  Powering about 250,000 homes.

• 33:38Speaker 01

  Holy cow.

• 33:38Speaker 03

  All this stuff is happening, mostly in East Kern. Pacific Steel, they've already started under construction.

• 33:45Speaker 01

  That's the first steel plant in, built in the, in 50 years? In the United States or just in California?

• 33:50Speaker 03

  In California.

• 33:51Speaker 01

  Dang.

• 33:51Speaker 03

  So that's going to be over 400 good-paying jobs.

• 33:54Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 33:55Speaker 03

  Construction, I think, finished in 2027. But again, right, we need to have them back on to talk about where they are now.

• 34:05Speaker 01

  Right.

• 34:05Speaker 03

  If our, again, our residents aren't aware, I mean, you could drive from Bakersfield, it's an hour away.

• 34:11Speaker 01

  Right.

• 34:11Speaker 03

  So why not have somebody have the opportunity to make a good living wage?

• 34:16Speaker 01

  Yes, yeah.

• 34:17Speaker 02

  Very, very interesting.

• 34:18Speaker 01

  So many people just don't realize that, you know, the superlatives that we have here in Kern County, like we're the largest. Solar producers?

• 34:30Speaker 03

  So how we say it is we have more renewable energy than any county in the country.

• 34:34Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 34:35Speaker 03

  We have the world's largest energy solar plus, it's called solar plus storage facility.

• 34:41Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 34:42Speaker 03

  In the world. We have, we're the wind capital of the world. We have a lot in terms of solar farms. I think we have the number two, if I'm not mistaken. So we're leading the nation or world. And again, all types of energy. But renewable energy, we've done more than any county in the country to provide that type of clean energy.

• 35:05Speaker 01

  We, we had Chad Hathaway on the show a week or two ago. He, a local oil producer. And he mentioned that, and he's not alone. Others have said that the tide seems to be maybe changing a little bit in terms of Sacramento's attitude towards.

• 35:21Speaker 03

  Well, and.

• 35:22Speaker 01

  Oil and gas.

• 35:23Speaker 03

  You know, I always say we have that eight good, good cases to be made about why we should produce locally versus preferring internet or foreign oil.

• 35:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 35:32Speaker 03

  And I mean, the main thing is we have the strictest regs in the world to drill.

• 35:36Speaker 01

  Right.

• 35:36Speaker 03

  Kern County.

• 35:37Speaker 01

  Right.

• 35:38Speaker 03

  But also we're favoring oil from countries that have horrific human rights, environmental rights records. And oh, by the way, we're shipping it half a world away, creating more pollution than all the world's cars.

• 35:50Speaker 01

  Right.

• 35:50Speaker 03

  16 oil tankers. That's it.

• 35:52Speaker 01

  Right. Which I guess oil tankers like really spew nasty stuff. Yeah. Bunker fuel.

• 35:57Speaker 03

  So, so I, it's, it's a demand issue. So demand is still over 500 million barrels a year. We only produce 135 as a state. So guess what? We need, we need to get it from somewhere. We're an energy island. You can't pipe it in. So I am cautiously optimistic because if we can get the right, you know, to drill.

• 36:21Speaker 03

  The challenges investment has left, will it come back?

• 36:25Speaker 01

  Right.

• 36:26Speaker 03

  New Mexico has tripled their production. And so other states have kind of benefited by, you know, by this, by kind of the regulatory hurdles that have been imposed. But I'm glad to see the acknowledgement. It should be a, it should be apolitical.

• 36:43Speaker 01

  Right.

• 36:44Speaker 02

  Right.

• 36:44Speaker 03

  Local oversight, good jobs tax base. Sounds good to me.

• 36:49Speaker 01

  Yeah, for sure. Any other exciting projects that, that are coming up in Kern County?

• 36:55Speaker 03

  I know, I was at the State of the City, that's exciting. Like you all, the retail that's coming downtown.

• 37:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 37:01Speaker 03

  I mean, we're getting the quality developments. We're working on some lifestyle centers, like the one on Rosedale. I mean, a lot of people.

• 37:09Speaker 01

  Lifestyle center?

• 37:10Speaker 02

  Yeah, what's that?

• 37:11Speaker 03

  Like shopping centers.

• 37:12Speaker 01

  Okay, okay.

• 37:14Speaker 03

  You've heard about the Whole Foods and, you know.

• 37:16Speaker 01

  Yes, there's a Whole Foods coming on Rosedale Highway?

• 37:18Speaker 03

  So that's that Rosedale project.

• 37:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 37:21Speaker 03

  Right on the corner where the PG&E site.

• 37:24Speaker 01

  Plant was Rosedale and coffee.

• 37:26Speaker 03

  We already have quality, we have great quality retail here, but we're building on that.

• 37:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 37:31Speaker 03

  We're seeing, of course, the Fuller, the Park Center, the Fuller Homes and Bolt House. That, that, they're going to build, what is it, 530 units? Pretty amazing.

• 37:46Speaker 01

  Of housing?

• 37:46Speaker 03

  Yes, because we need rental, right? We need both houses, but we also need the, folks have the ability to rent.

• 37:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 37:53Speaker 03

  So that's going to be about 540. I mean, what's happening here is unlike any other place, you know, it's interesting, like the big project, yesterday, they're providing power to LA homes.

• 38:05Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 38:05Speaker 03

  But where can they build that facility? Kern County.

• 38:09Speaker 01

  Right.

• 38:09Speaker 03

  Because LA pretty much limits the ability, wind is prohibited and other types of energy, renewable energy projects.

• 38:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 38:16Speaker 02

  Richard, we have a question for you here that came in. First of all, a comment, the pre-sale for the festival sold out already.

• 38:23Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 38:23Speaker 01

  For the lightning in a bottle?

• 38:25Speaker 02

  The pre-sale sold out. They will open up more sales later, but the pre-sale sold out.

• 38:30Speaker 01

  That's a good sign.

• 38:31Speaker 02

  That's a really good sign. How would one apply for the Hard Rock?

• 38:35Speaker 03

  Great question, and they do have a employment opportunities portal.

• 38:41Speaker 02

  Okay, great.

• 38:41Speaker 03

  Um, so we can share that with you after the show.

• 38:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, we can put it in the show notes.

• 38:45Speaker 03

  Yes, and vendor, if you're a vendor, landscaping, advertising, we want, they want to hire local, right?

• 38:52Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 38:53Speaker 03

  We prefer local, so if you are a vendor, please go to the website and put your company name in.

• 38:58Speaker 01

  That's great.

• 38:59Speaker 03

  And then, and what your service is and so forth, so.

• 39:03Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 39:03Speaker 03

  There's amazing opportunities for our local company.

• 39:07Speaker 02

  Big, big, um, things like that, they need all the people to help it run, help it keep going. The cleaners, the, the window washers, the all.

• 39:14Speaker 03

  Right, it's all the indirect, indirect and induced and, and they're having job fairs, they're having, I think, for dealers. If you want to be a, what, poker blackjack dealer.

• 39:24Speaker 01

  Okay, that could be fun.

• 39:26Speaker 03

  IT.

• 39:26Speaker 02

  We're gonna learn how to do that now?

• 39:29Speaker 03

  IT, there's IT, jobs, security jobs.

• 39:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 39:33Speaker 03

  I mean, they were talking thousands and thousands of opportunities, so.

• 39:37Speaker 01

  We already know somebody who got a job there.

• 39:39Speaker 02

  We do, yeah.

• 39:40Speaker 01

  Out, out, out for the.

• 39:41Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 39:42Speaker 01

  Hard Rock.

• 39:43Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 39:44Speaker 01

  And, um, yeah, no, it's really exciting, it just continues every time we talk, Richard, I'm impressed with how much is going on. It just seems like there's a lot of activity here in the Central Valley.

• 39:55Speaker 02

  It's really cool. I bet it's fun for you to share all of this stuff that's going on in Kern County.

• 40:00Speaker 03

  Well, we can share, like, the great thing is, like, these projects, like Pacific Steel, they landed on our desk, like, uh, gosh, over five years ago.

• 40:09Speaker 02

  Oh, wow.

• 40:09Speaker 03

  And, so we have project names, uh, sometimes we sign NDAs, right? But a lot of times, these companies, uh, like, you know, Pacific Steel, they said, hey, that your, our first call was to KEDC. I remember getting the call.

• 40:22Speaker 01

  Nice.

• 40:22Speaker 03

  And Melinda did a great job of working with them and they were a community partner. So we're kind of like the, the, we know about companies that locates are gonna happen two to three to four years. I mean, look at Cal Dairies, that one is the most advanced, uh, dairy processing plant in the world.

• 40:38Speaker 01

  Right, over off of Panama, yeah, yeah, it's incredible.

• 40:42Speaker 03

  So if you, and that's a three-phase project, so we, most of our projects are industrial, in the industrial realm.

• 40:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:48Speaker 03

  So these are quality, obviously, we've had some. Gas downsizing, so hopefully our resident or those can transfer over to those.

• 40:57Speaker 01

  Yeah. Well, you seem to like it. You seem to like what you do.

• 41:00Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah. Well, because we are the business help center.

• 41:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:04Speaker 03

  So I love it because people call us for help. We're, you know, no fee, no fee assistance. But we're the dot connectors, right?

• 41:12Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 41:12Speaker 03

  So we're not like what

• 41:14Speaker 02

  Fun thing to do. Yeah, sure.

• 41:16Speaker 03

  But we'll know the people that they need to talk to on the education, government, business side to help them move forward.

• 41:22Speaker 01

  Right. You can introduce them to the government leaders, the education leaders and go, hey, look, yeah, we're business friendly and let me, let me introduce you to the people who make those decisions.

• 41:32Speaker 02

  It's one of my favorite things to do in life personally is to connect people that I know, you know, could benefit from knowing one another. So to be able to do that for your job, that's got to be pretty rewarding.

• 41:41Speaker 03

  And that's true. And I always say, learn three things about each person you work with. Not just business, but hey, what's your favorite sport?

• 41:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:50Speaker 03

  What's your favorite band? I would say, what's your first concert?

• 41:52Speaker 02

  Do you wear shorts to the grocery store?

• 41:54Speaker 03

  Maybe this weekend when I go to the, the, the water ski tournament.

• 41:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:59Speaker 03

  It did happen last year and I ran into three or four people I knew at the supermarket.

• 42:04Speaker 01

  And you blushed with your, with your shorts on.

• 42:06Speaker 02

  Imagine having legs.

• 42:07Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 42:08Speaker 02

  So embarrassing. So embarrassing.

• 42:10Speaker 01

  So embarrassing. Richard Chapman wearing shorts. Well, Richard, thank you so much for taking the time coming on the show and, and thanks for all your cheerleading that you do for Kern County.

• 42:20Speaker 03

  Thanks.

• 42:20Speaker 01

  It's really appreciated.

• 42:21Speaker 03

  I'm willing to share it.

• 42:22Speaker 01

  We could tell anybody if they would like to know more about what's going on. You have a very good website. It's kernedc.com. That's kernedc.com. You can find out more about the economic development that's going on. And if you're interested in that Hard Rock job, Google the Hard Rock Cafe to hone.

• 42:40Speaker 03

  Cafe casino.

• 42:41Speaker 01

  Just Hard Rock.

• 42:42Speaker 02

  Hard Rock.

• 42:43Speaker 01

  Hard Rock to hone.

• 42:43Speaker 02

  We'll put the right thing in the show notes, huh, Stephen?

• 42:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, right.

• 42:46Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 42:47Speaker 01

  Okay. Anyways, we're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. Thanks.

• 42:49Speaker 00

  Don't forget, Money Wise is more than a radio show. We're an independently owned local wealth management firm with 60 plus years of collective experience. Our financial advisors are here to help you, Kern County. Together, let's be smart, be safe, be money wise.

• 43:15Speaker 01

  Welcome to MoneyWise. I'm Sharad, that's Emily.

• 43:18Speaker 02

  We back.

• 43:19Speaker 01

  We back. Richard's such a great guy.

• 43:22Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 43:23Speaker 01

  Just fun to talk to, enjoyable. On May 15th of this year, Emily.

• 43:29Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 43:29Speaker 01

  Dick's Sporting Goods and Foot Locker officially agreed that Dick's was going to acquire Foot Locker.

• 43:37Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 43:37Speaker 01

  In a $2.4 billion merge.

• 43:42Speaker 02

  I didn't even know Foot Locker was still.

• 43:44Speaker 01

  Ah, you're not alone.

• 43:45Speaker 02

  Around.

• 43:46Speaker 01

  You're not alone. Did you know Foot Locker was still around, Stephen?

• 43:48Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's only, it's in the mall.

• 43:51Speaker 01

  Is it still there in the mall?

• 43:52Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 43:52Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 43:53Speaker 01

  Employees still wear referee jerseys?

• 43:56Speaker 02

  Oh, wow, wow. Yeah, those are like the songs of my youth is walking through there.

• 44:00Speaker 00

  A Foot Locker and a kid's Foot Locker.

• 44:02Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 44:03Speaker 02

  Nice.

• 44:03Speaker 00

  They're barely holding on, just like the mall, but they're there.

• 44:06Speaker 01

  You don't want kids and adults mingling together buying their shoes.

• 44:11Speaker 00

  No.

• 44:12Speaker 01

  Keep that, keep that separate. More importantly though, Emily, do you know the history of Foot Locker?

• 44:18Speaker 02

  No idea.

• 44:19Speaker 01

  You know where Foot Locker comes from?

• 44:20Speaker 02

  I do know that in the 80s, I really liked going in there and pretending like I could afford the shoes.

• 44:26Speaker 01

  That was your thing?

• 44:28Speaker 00

  Been there.

• 44:29Speaker 02

  Then I would go to Payless and get the knockoffs.

• 44:31Speaker 00

  Yeah, my mom would take me to Mervyn's after.

• 44:33Speaker 02

  Mervyn's, yes, Mervyn's, heck yeah.

• 44:35Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 44:36Speaker 02

  That's my history knowledge.

• 44:38Speaker 01

  The reason why I'm familiar with Foot Lockers because I, I am aware that they are the last living piece of Woolworths.

• 44:51Speaker 02

  What?

• 44:52Speaker 01

  Woolworths created Foot Locker and this happened in 1970, well, the first Foot Locker was in 1974. And it happened in a city of industry here in California and it was the.

• 45:12Speaker 01

  It used to be called Kenny's. Do you remember Kenny's?

• 45:15Speaker 02

  Oh wow, that does sound familiar.

• 45:16Speaker 01

  So Kenny's is what my parents would buy us kids. They were like the super cheap.

• 45:21Speaker 00

  They had the Kenny kicks.

• 45:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, Kenny kicks.

• 45:23Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 45:24Speaker 02

  Where was it located? Do you remember?

• 45:26Speaker 01

  Uh, the Kenny's.

• 45:27Speaker 02

  Were they all over?

• 45:28Speaker 01

  Yeah, they were kind of, they were kind of all over. And, um, so there was a Foot Locker in 1974. And they were established as Kenny slash Woolworths. They were kind of the specialty chain that focused on athletic shoes. And then 1982, they launched Lady Foot Locker, 1986, Kids Foot Locker. Of course, Woolworths went out of business in the 90s.

• 45:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 45:56Speaker 01

  And as part of that, that bankruptcy with Woolworths, they spun off and sold all of their remaining department stores in 1997. And there was a group called the Venator Group that went in.

• 46:16Speaker 02

  The Darth Vader Group?

• 46:17Speaker 01

  Uh huh, yeah. Venator. And they were the ones that essentially acquired the athletic retail business, which was Foot Locker.

• 46:27Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 46:28Speaker 01

  So it's kind of interesting that that's the, uh, you know, that's the, you know, it all comes from the roots, its roots of, you know, Woolworths selling shoes and then having, they had several successful sort of off-brand spin-off companies. And now Foot Locker is about to be merged with Dick's. However, just today, Senator Elizabeth Warren asked the FTC and the Department of Justice to consider blocking this deal.

• 46:59Speaker 02

  Oh, really?

• 47:00Speaker 01

  Because of antitrust concerns, which is, there's two consolidation of.

• 47:07Speaker 02

  Monopolization.

• 47:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 47:08Speaker 02

  Sort of a thing.

• 47:09Speaker 01

  And that hurts the consumer. I don't understand this enough to really like give any opinion on it, but I'm always skeptical, not always, but this, I'm skeptical in this case, you know, it's like, really?

• 47:20Speaker 02

  This particular industry, the sports shoes, it seems like. They're everywhere.

• 47:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, it seems like they're everywhere and it seems like it's inevitable that you're gonna have them kind of merge together, but I guess we don't want just one company that's making all of our shoes or selling all of our shoes, cuz then that, you know, then then we don't have competition and competition is nice because it generally reduces costs. And so.

• 47:45Speaker 02

  That's how it works.

• 47:47Speaker 01

  That's how it works. That's right. Uh, also, we're, you know, we're getting a lot of earnings coming from publicly traded companies. And one of those is McDonald's.

• 47:57Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 47:57Speaker 01

  McDonald's is, of course, one of the world's largest fast food chains. And they have actually come out with their, with some of their, uh, earnings. And they've done pretty good this last quarter, especially compared to some of their rivals like Yum! Brands, which Yum! Brands owns Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, who all reported lower than expected revenues just yesterday. And same store, same store sales have dropped with these companies. Chipotle also lowered its full year same-store sales guidance after a disappointing quarter. But McDonald's had bucked the trend a little bit and you probably have no idea why. I was gonna ask you why.

• 48:40Speaker 02

  Uh, let me think.

• 48:42Speaker 01

  I'll give you a hint. Do you remember, we stopped at McDonald's when we came back from LA a couple of weeks ago. You were kinda out of it, so you may not remember.

• 48:52Speaker 01

  You were kinda sleeping.

• 48:53Speaker 02

  Uh.

• 48:54Speaker 01

  But I I bought chicken strip, uh, the new crispy chicken strip, uh, wrap.

• 49:01Speaker 02

  Okay, yeah.

• 49:02Speaker 01

  So this is, this, they, McDonald's has actually attributed their increased sales due to crispy chicken strips, their new.

• 49:09Speaker 02

  Really?

• 49:10Speaker 01

  Uh, menu item.

• 49:11Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 49:11Speaker 01

  Which.

• 49:12Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 49:12Speaker 01

  You would think that they would have chicken strips. Before, they had chicken nuggets, but they didn't have the chicken strips. And they brought them back here recently.

• 49:19Speaker 02

  Okay, I was gonna ask you, when's the last time you've been to McDonald's?

• 49:22Speaker 01

  That was it.

• 49:23Speaker 02

  So it sounds like that was that, but let's say prior to that, cuz we were in traffic. We were driving back from.

• 49:27Speaker 01

  Oh, it's years.

• 49:28Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 49:29Speaker 01

  Prior to that. Oh, actually, I I'll stop, I'll eat breakfast every once in a while. I'll go through the drive thru.

• 49:33Speaker 02

  What's every once in a while?

• 49:35Speaker 01

  Couple times a year, I'll have an Egg McMuffin. Their Egg McMuffins are so good.

• 49:39Speaker 02

  When is this happening?

• 49:40Speaker 01

  It happens usually when I'm heading out for a hike.

• 49:42Speaker 00

  They have a spicy one now.

• 49:43Speaker 01

  I haven't tried that.

• 49:44Speaker 00

  They are good.

• 49:45Speaker 01

  You've tried it?

• 49:46Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 49:46Speaker 01

  Their breakfast is unbelievable. And now they're expanding in some of their stores. It used to be you could buy breakfast. There was a period of time you could buy McDonald's breakfast like 24 hours a day. Those were the days.

• 49:55Speaker 02

  I think they brought it back.

• 49:56Speaker 01

  I think, I don't know if it's 24 hours a day, but at least it's expanded. The other reason McDonald's is doing well, they credit the Minecraft themed meals that they have, which is.

• 50:08Speaker 02

  Minecraft is big.

• 50:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 50:10Speaker 02

  There was a movie.

• 50:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, there was.

• 50:12Speaker 02

  Jack Black.

• 50:13Speaker 01

  Jack Black. I heard it was terrible.

• 50:15Speaker 02

  Really?

• 50:15Speaker 01

  It was so bad, it was good, I guess. All right. Well, thanks for tuning in. Stephen Sot. Thanks for tuning in, everybody. Really appreciate it. If you missed any of these shows, go find out where you listen to your podcasts. Remember these three things. Be smart.

• 50:27Speaker 02

  Be safe.

• 50:28Speaker 01

  And always be money wise.

• 50:29Speaker 04

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