Surge in oil and the potential for a recession

0:00When you really need care, you need 24-7 access to a care team, not a maze of paperwork from a third party. Every day, America's hospitals and health systems show up for you. Navigating healthcare can fuel overwhelming. But you can count on real doctors, real nurses, real people, providing quality around the clock care when you need it most. They're in your corner. In communities across America, your neighbors, your lifelines, right beside you holding your hand and helping find answers. That's what putting patients first actually means. Learn more at strengthinhealthcare.org. Brought to you by the Coalition to Strength in America's Health Care. Good afternoon, we're getting right down to business here. We are doing it live doing more at four weekday afternoons right after the guy bends and show a three and just before the 790 KBC news blitz with Randy Wang. Motak on money live on the earth, 790 KBC streaming live online worldwide KBC.com and you're on demand. Motak on money podcasts KBC.com Apple iTunes Spotify YouTube and the list goes on. Good start to the week on Wall Street, positive start after a three week drop for the major averages.

1:01The Dow coming in for a closing game today of 388 points. The S&P 500 of 67 and the NASDAQ gain 268. This has the price of oil did pull back a bit as the war against Iran continues. We did see the US oil benchmark moving a bit lower today to 93 50 a barrel on signs that US allies were at least discussing possibilities for reopening. The Strait of Hormuz. There are also reports of not a Rodney and oil tankers making you through that vital waterway today, including a Pakistani flag vessel that did so while broadcasting its location according to the Wall Street Journal. We did see President Trump pressure allies today to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz and relieve pressure on the global economy. And so far, not much of a response Germany rejecting taking part while Japan and Australia have also indicated they are unlikely to send naval ships to help Britain and France. And they are assessing possible action. The German Defense Minister today dismissed the president's call for help asking what the president expects a handful or two handful of European frigates to accomplish in the Strait of Hormuz.

2:08Meanwhile, Israel's grounded vision of Lebanon opening a new front in the widening Middle East war against Hezbollah, which is Iranian supported. Israel said today that launched ground operation in a southern area of Lebanon was prepared for a prolonged campaign. Reportedly a direct communications channel between the U.S. envoy Steve Wichoff and the Iranian Foreign Minister has been reactivated in recent days, according to a U.S. official in a source with knowledge talking to Axios. It's not clear how substantive the messages passed between the two were, but it's the first known direct communication between the party since the war started more than two weeks ago. Meanwhile, President Trump has invoked the Defense Production Act directing an oil company to restart California operations off the coast. We'll talk about that. We'll talk about it with prominent oil analyst John killed up at again, capital and CNBC contributor. Meanwhile, billionaires are leaving California more billionaires ahead of the possible billionaires tax here in the state. We'll talk about that. We'll talk about it with Susan Shelley columnist for the Southern California news group and host of the Howard Jarvis radio show her Tuesday nights right here on your favorite station 790 KBC and KSFO in the Bay area.

3:18But first on your money, the markets, the economy and the whole works now joining us live top rank money manager Ken Wynan's president and chief investment officer at Wynan's investments at Wynan's investments dot com Ken Wynan's also a market historian author of numerous books as latest is investment Atlas 3 also forms magazine contributor. He has his crypto credentials too. He's host of winning with Wynan's podcast also heard in Las Vegas and the money minute features right here on 790 KBC Ken. Thank you very much for taking the call here this afternoon. Well, my pleasure Frank and I think we could all say that it was a very busy news weekend. I know I myself were watching headline after headline you were constantly worried about boomerangs that might be popping up, but a loan behold. Yeah, you go back and look at things, you know, quantitatively and technically the market is pretty much been stable, meaning that they, you know, the S&B 500 year to date is down a whopping 2% in spite of all that's happened. And you compare that to where we were last year this time in the first quarter, what a difference.

4:24Ken, we got a positive start to the new week on Wall Street looks like the market very sensitive to the price of oil these days and their concerns now the price of oil stays at list level. We could be risking a recession here. And of course, the Fed then would be more likely to lower interest rates. So ironically that might have popped up the market today gives your assessment all these moving parts here now. It's pretty funny. Frank, you say that the Fed will lower rate. I just finished reading an article that the Fed might raise rates based on the concerns of inflation. So again, you know, all these cross wins of the economic news, but here's the thing. There's a couple of really good pieces of news out there. There have been early indications that earning season. I mean, we're getting what we used to call the whisper numbers from companies. You know, in spite of everything is going on, I think we might find that the first quarter of 2026 from an earning standpoint is actually going to be pretty darn good. I think a lot of the folks is obviously midterm elections. There's a lot of talk about, you know, both sides are claiming they're going to have a run over on the tables.

5:29So to speak based on because of just this war, I had another friend of mine say, look, I'd like to wager a bet with you that this is going to just like a rock in Afghanistan. And he says that we will still be in the mix of this by December this year. Again, all these extreme pendulum swings, Frank, but when you have that and then you have the market climb, the what we used to call a wall of worry. I think what we're seeing right now is number one, the price of 120 that we saw in oil last week. I'm going to put my neck out there and say, I think that might have been the high. I think that was just a panicky by type thing. We pretty much have figured out what's going to be going on with the oil situation in the Middle East. Obviously, there's there's a lot of countries out there who are now oil producers, such as the United States. It's very different than it was even 20 years ago. And then also looking at the other commodities, a lot of the other commodities, which were again inflation gauges like soybeans actually have pulled back.

6:32So again, you're just finding that maybe the picture that, you know, people have been trying to use the playbook from the, you know, the raw or the rock in Afghanistan war might not work this time around. And this thing might stabilize quicker than we realize. All right, speaking of stabilizing us like cryptos turned around with a good couple of days here with the Bitcoin back close to 75,000 all of a sudden you can. You know, you have your crypto credentials to and keep a close eye on that. What's happening there? Well, it's funny. You know, you have me on every week Frank and thank you very much always for that. But I did say last Monday that I look to me like the selling pressure had come off the predominant crypto currencies such as Bitcoin and certainly either. And that they were beginning to form what we would call good old fashioned technical bottom is meaning that things were coming down. It was beginning to price sideways and lo and behold, here we are with a fairly nice pop today, you know, Bitcoin was up 4% today.

7:34It's had a nice bounce and the crypto socks have as well. But I think again, it's all tied to the same thing. Number one, the NASDAQs moving up crypto moves up number two, the dollar is stable. We don't have a lot of concerns around them. In fact, the dollar is actually up on the year, which is surprised everybody. And number three, you know, you have the precious metals again, moving in an upper direction. It's beginning to allow people to gauge once yet again, what is going to go into the portfolio in 2026 and what's not. And I think that this is giving people some opportunities that maybe we're not present a month ago. All right. Interesting. Either by the way, Ethereum back to just shy of 2400. That's was below 2000 not too long ago. Good old doge now at 10 cents a one cent higher than it was a week ago when we last spoke there again. So would you? What about the the cryptos here now and your thoughts about how they performed in the face of all this and then they of course the various ETFs and inequities that are connected to to the cryptos.

8:39Are you doing any bottom fishing there now? No, you know, I'm most of my money is still I'm going to still play the hard metals such as gold and silver and platinum and copper. That's where our commodity fund is right now, but I do think that in the case of you know backing into crypto real quick. There's a couple of other things we have to remember. I still think in spite of all the news that we're hearing about, you know, the military stuff and certainly all the the talk of midterm elections. I would not be surprised if crypto regulation doesn't become a talking point for midterm elections and why do I say that? It's because you have congressman and senators many of them running for reelection. They're having to make a stand on various things and obviously the Trump administration has really said that they support. You know, the basically the normalizing of regulation for crypto and I think again you're going to have to find some of the politicians wanting to be a contender in this election. They're going to have to stick their neck out of the foxhole and say where they stand on crypto and I think based on that, you could find that crypto again is at a bottom is being moved up.

9:50I think we all know and I think everybody else in the audience now knows crypto can be very, very volatile. It can be can really boomerang you hard and I do think this regulation thing is going to be what is going to take for many people to want to stick their head back into the crypto foxhole and count this as an alternative, especially financial planners and wolf managers. I mean that look for these opportunities. They've got to see they've got a green light from the regulators. Right back to the top story oil and certainly the oil names are in focus. Exxon mobile moving hired today. Chevron moving slightly higher. What about the oil stocks here and the outlook for the oil names? You know, I it's been fun to watch just how strong they've been and you know what I know a lot of people say well, of course they've done well. We're in the middle of the war. Well, you know what you might want to go back and look at what they did last year. Many of the oil stocks had a good 2025 and they had a very, very good so far very good this year. I don't think this is a just a knee jerk reaction to a military conflict. I think it has to do with good old fashioned demand and as I look at oil stocks, I want to my favorites is imperial oil symbol I am.

11:03So it has been a long wrong seller performer and then even some of the companies are not necessarily tied to crude, but they're tied to natural gas and Frank, you just talked about what they're talking with their forcing of opening up the reserves in California. Remember, the central Valley is a huge deposit of natural gas and you must look at companies like Williams group, which is a trans quarter of natural gas, which has had again another phenomenal 21 months. So again, you don't have to look at just the big guys go look at some of these other names of companies in the oil and gas sector, but it is going to be a lead group for the rest of the year on their live with top rank money. Ken Whiteens and what about remember, you just gave me a flashback having had these conversations with you for many, many years of what about some of the domestic oil producers now that oil is around $100 barrel. Remember, you got on and some of these other names that were mentioned in the past, do those still exist and anything domestically that is getting your attention.

12:04Well, here's the thing, a lot of the American frackers were saying that they were running the same problem that many other energy producers have had in the past. Look, we found the low hanging fruit in fracking. And so when you have that happen, you now have to have production caught where the price of the end product has got to be high enough to justify the production. And we are now at a point where oil is going to basically be high enough. I mean, we don't want oil to stay at a hundred bucks a barrel. But if we can have oil stay in the 70s, I mean, from what I know, I'm not an expert in this, but I've heard it from people who are, if you have consistent 70s, that is enough to turn on the spigot in American production. And if we have some of these regulations coming out about offshore drilling, certainly what you just mentioned about with California, but I'm thinking about in the, as we now call it the Gulf of America, you're going to find that we are going to be just finding this country.

13:05We will be able to replenish our strategic stockpile and that export deals that we've made with Europe will benefit the United States. Don't forget about those Europe cut deals with us because they didn't want to have to go back to Russia. I think it's a net positive. That is why US stocks are moving up Frank. All right. And that volatility index doing what it does volatile volatility index down 13% today to kick off for the new week after big spikes last week. Are you doing anything now with that volatility index? And what are your thoughts about ongoing volatility in this environment? You know what? I would say this way as we've learned for those of us who have been through sadly, sadly been through so many military, military conflicts, there are ebbs and flows. And so you do have to look at the headlines and see what's going on. But you know, Frank, what I would say is this it's not just the energy stocks go look at the mining stocks. There's articles coming out continuously about new fines happening in what we call the basin states. And you know what I'm also going to stick my neck out there.

14:07I think California is going to be forced to because of its own physical problems begin to realize you've got a lot of natural resources, especially in northern California when you count the forestry up there. And certainly what are some old minds people are going to want to start opening those up with new technologies where you don't hurt the environment. And I think that that's going to be something coming up. But Frank, I want to, if you don't mind, I like to switch gears a real quick. I do think people in California better go read some of the headlines that came out over the weekend. And one that came out of the Wall Street Journal today, it was called the red blues state gap on income taxes is getting even wider. And they just to the article. And I think again, California being the leader of this, the politicians of the state are doubling down on the idea of making the progressive income tax even more progressive. And if you go and look what happened in Washington state over the weekend. Again, I think the canaries in the coal mine, you know, this election means a lot to the people of California, you better think who you're going to vote for.

15:10And you better ask how they feel about taxes, because as you said, Frank, the business people and the millionaires and billionaires are leaving. And when they leave, they're taking those jobs with them. Right. And that song shoes in Texas very timely, given the fact that billionaires more than removing out of California to Texas and other states, including Vegas, where you are there. What's the situation there? Give us an update on what's happening there in Vegas. You know, I'm glad you're asking me this because every now and then, excuse my friends, I'm going to use horse terms as I do ride it really bust my shafts. And I keep hearing people say, oh, I hear that the Vata and Vegas are in 30 year, you know, declines. I'm going, well, I don't know where you've been lately, but we're, you know, not to say things are the best they've ever been, but they're certainly doing well. And I'll just throw this out for anybody in California that thinks that Vegas or Nevada are in the break of a precipice. We have a double A plus Moody's rating. So does the state of Nevada.

16:11Go look at California. Go look at Los Angeles. I think they are double A minus with a negative review. Again, you know, as I say, you know, read the cards and we, but a lot of people, and I do think a lot of the economic development people who are trying to get people to stay in California are trying to paint the neighbors and the worst possible light. But to somebody who lives here and works here and employees people here, that is simply not the case. The economy is broadening out. We're dealing with the issues that we have to deal with. And I will hate to bring it up. We have no income tax in the state. You're making me jealous now, Ken. In the meantime, in the meantime, any specific places where you're putting money now and or taking it off the table. Well, you know, Frank, I know I'm probably being sound like an old broken record, but I think the audience knows I'm very consistent. Look, there, there's a broadening of this rally. It is moving in a lot of different directions. I'm still absolutely blown away. And I'm just going to throw names out in different places. Go and look at some of these retailers. I still cannot believe with all the bad news about consumers and not having money to spend.

17:17I'm still looking at the fact you've got Walmart up 13% on the year. You got TJ. It's doing well. I mean, even Target has turned around. Costco's turned around. I think you want to look there. Again, I on the on this tech side, you're going to want to wait for earnings, but I will tell you what I would buy on this pullback. You've had a pullback this month on some of these aerospace stocks, like GE and AmeriCAP and Embraer and Kratos. They pulled back. I would take advantage of this pullback because whether if the war ends quickly as many of us hope it does, you still have to stockpile the reserves. And as we've learned, as AI has done the tech drones have done to war, I would look at these drone makers. Terrific, Ken. Well, thank you very much for taking the call here this afternoon. Another very busy starts of the new week. We look forward to speaking with you again as soon as possible. Ken, thank you very, very much for taking the call live with us here this afternoon. Thank you, Frank. Take care. That is Ken Wyden's top rank money manager, president and chief investment officer at Wyden's investments at Wyden's investments dot com.

18:23Why would this here? On MoTeC on money on 790 KBC. Every day, excessive delays and denials from big insurers keep patients from accessing the care they need. And when care is urgent, these delays can be disastrous. These practices cost billions in wasteful spending, driving up costs for American families. But while big insurers put up barriers, America's hospitals and health systems are in your corner. Navigating endless reviews and appeals to get you the care you need when you need it most. It's time to curb these harmful practices and put the focus back on patients. Brought to you by the Coalition to Strength in America's Healthcare. Bettering your business takes working with the best. With the James Hardy Alliance, you gain access to leads, training, networking and support from the number one brand of siding in North America. Achieve new levels of success by joining the James Hardy Alliance today. The expectation and the norm is to win and that is what we will be able to do here. I believe in the power of UCLA. It's a new day for UCLA football with new head coach Bob Chesney taking charge and we need you to be a part of it.

19:25The right man is at the Hellman Westwood and the time is now for you to put your support behind the Bruins. UCLA football is ready to win and we can't wait to see you this fall. Visit UCLA Bruins.com slash tickets for more info on how to secure your seats for the 2026 season. Go Bruins! Positive start to the new week on Wall Street with the Dow closing higher by nearly 400 points today of 388 at 46,946. The S&P 500 of 67 at 66,99 in the NASDAQ of 268 at 22,374. The yield in the 10 year note now at 4.22%. Price of oil in the spotlight moving higher today by more than a dollar now at 94,68 a barrel. We'll talk oil very shortly with oil industry analyst John Kildup will be joining me live momentarily. Crypto's on the rebound now with Bitcoin right now hovering at around 74,700 Ethereum to shy of 2400 doge at the moment at 10 cents. The spike in the price of oil recently sending gas prices higher.

20:28We're looking at 5.62 now the average price for regular gas in L.A. $6 the average price now for premium. Both about a dollar higher than just a month ago and decals up to 643 an average, about a dollar 40 higher compared to just a month ago. Otaka money continues here in 790 KBC as we watch what's happening in the Middle East with the price of oil and what's happening at the gas pump here. Big news here in California, the Trump administration invoking the Defense Production Act now to order an oil company to restart closed offshore operations in California, saying this is needed to address oil supply disruption risk and reduce reliance on foreign crude oil, the energy secretary Chris Wright directing stable offshore corporation. That's an oil and gas company headquartered in Houston to restore operations at the Santa ines unit and the Santa ines pipeline system which exists on the coast of Santa Barbara. Joining us live now is veteran oil industry analyst John killed up again capital and CNBC contributor longtime contributor to this program.

21:31John killed up. Thank you very much for taking the call here this afternoon. Good evening, Frank. Always great to be with you. Wonderful to have you with us. John that take it from the top. Give us your reaction to this big news. First of all, and then and we'll California resume oil production off the coast. Well, it's a bold bold move by the administration and look, there's oil there. And this we are at a point in time where we need it off and that oil could be used in state in California. And right now, California is buying with the rest of the world for oil production products and supply that comes out of the straight of hormones, which is not operational right now. Like the rest of the country, once again, Frank, you know, the rest of us don't necessarily need or have anything to do with that oil out there. Other than the fact that is of course, is a global market in that regard and it sets the pricing no matter where you're getting the barrel oil from. But in terms of actual supply and avoiding shortages, it's a I think a terrific fallback measure.

22:36And there's no reason why it, you know, shouldn't be encouraged in fact to help with our energy security. All right. How long has it been since this system was cranked up and tells more about as far as you know what this pipeline system off the coast looks like and how much oil could be gained from all this. It's about 30,000 barrels a day, Frank. It can, it's not a huge difference maker, you know, don't get me wrong, but, but at the same time, it's, you know, with the real estate brokers talk about location location location, it's that it's local supply, which is in very short supply. It's in no supply basically in California anymore to a degree, certainly current county still a big production area and some of the other parts of California, but this offshore unit. I'm sure shackles are going to be raised, though, however, given where it is, you know, in Santa Barbara and offshore and, you know, that just the history there, but again, you know, these are, these are difficult times we're in.

23:46The fact that oil is not back well over $100 a barrel right now is a stroke of luck and a market that's just trying to take everything and stride and really to a degree all the efforts that have been undertaken here to moderate the whole situation with with the ran and the blocking of the straight, you know, is bearing some fruit. The diversion, for example, by the Saudis to get to supply out to the Red Sea rather than the straight, the SPR release among all the nations in the OECD, the 400 million barrels and various other measures that are trying to be taken the waiver of the sanctions on Russian oil, if that sea. And I wouldn't be surprised to see the same sanction relief on Iranian barrels that are on cargo out there as well. So it's keeping things in check at a somewhat higher level than I think we would like and that's great for the economy. But you can't you can't deny that every measure at this point has to be taken on their life with oil industry analyst John killed up. We've got to get that.

24:50The oil out of the libretar pits that open pit there that that's all oil. So maybe we'll need every last drop of that might make a contribution to it as far as the Middle East is concerned. Now the straight of hormones still close for the most part, although reportedly some some vessels are getting through there. I know you've been focused on that for most of the day today. John, it's almost surreal that we're talking about the complete closure of the straight of hormones and everything else that's been going on. But what is the situation there now and what is the outlook with President Trump, pressuring allies to help reopen the the straight of hormones? Well, well, it's interesting, Frank. And I just referenced about the oil market hovering, you know, really boiled oil prices were down today down around $93 a barrel for USWTI. And it's sort of because thankfully, as long as we talk about the straight being closed or navigable, it's not physically blocked. There's no obstruction there. The biggest fear of oil was that the Iranians would sink something and block the two narrow one mile wide passageways that constitute really the navigable part of the straight.

26:00So you can see how vulnerable it is. So the markets being held in just because as you just referenced, there is some supply getting through. Depending on how, you know, President Trump handles the Iranians or to the extent that the the Carg Island attack, for example, which was really a stroke of genius in a way to hit everything else but the oil infrastructure there. It shows you, you know, the importance of keeping that supply going and the importance of where we're at, but it'll also what the oil market is pricing in and why it's not going crazy through the roof. Super high prices because that at the stroke of a pen or tweet or whatever statement the Iranians even could make this thing, you know, opens up tomorrow and everything's back to normal again because there's no obstruction. So, you know, we're certainly we're living on the precipice of a potential calamity here supply wise, but at the same time, there seems to be a sense that maybe there's a couple of more weeks to this, which is what's getting priced in.

27:04All the military folks, you know, have now been telling us or admitting to the fact that the straight wasn't necessarily a top priority that it was sort of secondary and that into week three and four is when you would see that situation addressed after some of, you know, a lot of Iran's capabilities were degraded, which apparently they have been or how could they not with all the sorties that have been run. So, you know, where there's a chance and the Iranians apparently today, for example, had an outreach to the Trump administration to try to talk again, which I guess President Trump rejected, but it goes to show you that, you know, there's a kindling there of an opportunity for this thing to get short circuited and end this almost as quickly as it started. So, that is sort of a hopeful analysis right now, but it's more than hopeful because I think that's what the oil markets pricing in that this thing isn't going to last longer and the worst of our, I mean, a lot of our fears have been realized, no doubt about that, but with the worst of our fears, the realize it doesn't look that way right now.

28:06All right, it's already pretty ugly here at the gas pump, which most people are focused on and waiting to hear what you have to say about this. Looks like we're a dollar a gallon higher than just a month ago here in Los Angeles five sixty two know the average price for regular $6 the average price for premium six forty three the average price for diesel looks like that's about $1.40 higher than just a month ago. And looks like we're about 50 cents below the record highs seen back in 2022, by the way, where do you see if gas prices go from here? It's going to be more upside, Frank, and I'm not, we're not out of the woods either with the price of oil. I will point out that as much as the price of oil has gone up, the price of diesel and gasoline relatively speaking, have way outpaced it. So that's why we're seeing that and that's because we're concerned in the market about refineries in Asia in particular, not having enough supply so that they're going to have to they are already in the market buying up cargo of gasoline and diesel fuel that we're seeing.

29:06And you and California in particular are competing with those folks for those available cargo. I continue to be concerned about absolute spot shortages if this thing persists much longer if we get into that fourth week of hostilities and the straight being effectively closed. So you know, that's what's next up and then it becomes really, you know, what price is anybody willing to pay for that sort of no marginal or last gallon or last barrel. So for now, though, the price should remain a bit stable again because what I talked about the oil price not running away to the upside. And I think even this relative outperformance price wise by diesel and gasoline is also now calming down. But over the next couple of days, you're going to continue to see probably under 10 to 15 cents higher at the pump before it's flat lines. And we'll have to see where we go from there more than likely, though, frankly, head back down at least a little bit for a short amount of time.

30:07John killed off oil industry analyst again, capital and CNBC contributor, longtime contributor to this program. We really appreciate it. John, thank you very much for taking the call live this year this afternoon. My pleasure. Thank you, Frank. Have a good night. Thank you very much, 790 KBC. The expectation and the norm is to win and that is what we will be able to do here. I believe in the power of UCLA. It's a new day for UCLA football with new head coach Bob Chesney taking charge and we need you to be a part of it. The right man is at the Hellman Westwood and the time is now for you to put your support behind the Bruins. UCLA football is ready to win and we can't wait to see you this fall. Visit UCLA Bruins dot com slash tickets for more info on how to secure your seats for the 2026 season. Go Bruins. Mo tech, a money continues here in 790 KBC. Good afternoon. He's chosen Texas. Not just the song, but what many billionaires are doing nowadays. Building air and Uber co founder Travis Kalant, Kalanick officially joined the crowd leaving California crowd of billionaires revealing his move to Texas.

31:09Just weeks after a proposed wealth tax could have been targeted targeting is estimated nearly $4 billion fortune. Kalantick left his San Francisco home for Texas just 14 days after before the new year. That is when the retroactive residency deadline for the proposed building air tax would take effect. Keeping close track of all of this joining us live now Susan Shelley columnist for the Southern California news group in host of the Howard Jarvis radio show, which is heard on Tuesday nights. Right here on 790 KBC and our great sister station KSFO in the Bay area. Susan, thank you very much. We're taking the call here this afternoon. Thank you Frank pleasure to be with you. Wonderful to have you with us. It's been a while since we chatted behind live microphones, but that list of billionaires leaving California for Texas and other state seems to be growing. Give us an update. Well, it sure is growing you on musk, of course, left before this billionaire tax proposal and I'm sure he's happy to be in Texas right now. But we've had a couple more leaves for Texas in addition to the co founder of Uber who just left, as you mentioned.

32:11We've also had some depart for Florida Jeff Bezos from Amazon and the Washington Post and Peter Teal, a venture capitalist. The founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergei brand. I think to the founders Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook, Instagram, otherwise known as made as they've all left by some calculations about a trillion dollars of wealth has left the state. And that's before this thing is even on the ballot, this billionaire's tax. So all of the income tax that these people would have been paying at the top rate is not going to be in the treasury for the foreseeable future. So the damage is already here from this effort to try to squeeze wealth out of people with a brand new tax on asset on wealth, not on income, but on what people already own and have paid taxes on previously. So it's a terrible idea to do this. It's coming to us from a health care workers union and they want more money for health care in California and they don't care if they burn down the state to get it.

33:14See it tonight. See it tonight. Read about it tomorrow. But here it now in Motek on money and 790 KBC on the air live with Susan Shelley Columbus for the Southern California news group host of the Howard Jarvis radio show her down. 790 KBC on Tuesday nights tomorrow night. Be sure to tune in to hear more about all of this, of course. And Susan, as we've discussed here, this thing is not even a sure thing right now, just the possibility of this happening has caused this exodus of billionaires. Where does it stand as far as whether it is actually going to be on the ballot? Well, they reached the 25% threshold of the number of signatures that they need. That was a while ago, but they have to turn them in in order to be on the ballot this year. They have to turn them in by April 17. So even though they have more time than that, if they turn them in later than April 17, the best they would do is be on the 28 ballot instead of the 26 ballot. Well, that's where it stands. They don't turn it in by April 17. It is not on this year's ballot. And this tax is unique and that is I think you had used the word confiscatory, right?

34:17And we're basically people's wealth are being confiscated. That's exactly right. People have already paid taxes on this income. It's sitting in account for its invested in the market or it's wherever it is. And here comes the California government saying your fair share is we're going to take 5% of everything you own. And that is an extremely dangerous precedent. Because the first thing you have to think about is what's the compliance like for that? Does everyone in California have to fill out a form to say what they have so that the government knows what everybody has? It's never been done before. And there's no reason to think it would stop a billionaires. It would come down to the middle class. That's where the money is, the money's in the middle. And there's no reason to think they wouldn't come after retirement accounts, investment accounts, real estate equity. They can do whatever they want if they break the seal on a brand new kind of tax, which is what this is. Well, thank God you're speaking out about it and enlightening the public about all of this.

35:17Is there a is there a strong effort aside from your voice and the Howard Jarvis tax payers association? Are other people speaking out about this to finally bring attention to what's what's ahead here? Yes. As a matter of fact, this seems to have shaken a lot of people out of their, out of their, their slumber so to speak politically where they, they suddenly realize that there's no limit to what this government will do to people if it wants more of your money. There's no limit and it has gotten a lot of people involved in politics. There are several campaign committees to fight this already. And there have been several new initiatives introduced that would try to undercut this billionaire's tax in different ways. So there's one called the transparency initiative, which is circulating for signatures right now, which would undercut it. And that would be a good thing because this is, as you said, confiscatory, just seizing what people have because somebody else wants it. And we can't have that. One of the problems is that health care spending in California is completely out of control.

36:21Medical spending is growing faster than the budget. And the budget is growing at an incredible rate like some kind of jack in the beanstalk story. It's just growing exponentially and health care spending on medical is growing even faster. So now the federal government is cracking down on some of California's clever loop holes to get more federal dollars. And that means that there's going to be a hole in the budget. And how is it going to fill it? Well, probably not with any kind of efficiency or going after waste and fraud. Probably they're just going to try to raise taxes. And we have to fight against that because everybody in California already paid enough. That's for sure. And as far as the state budget is concerned with the the billionaires leaving an advance of all of this. How is the state budget situation looking at the moment? Well, it's not looking too great. The legislative analyst office projects $35 billion deficits annually going forward this year. It's somewhere between $2 billion and $18 billion depending on who you listen to.

37:22But going forward, there's a structural deficit that will reach $35 billion. And they won't stop spending. They're just increasing spending on everything pet programs of all kinds. A new incentive program for electric trucks is in the governor's budget proposal. Things that we don't need to do that aren't going to save the world. And that are very expensive. We have to get our priorities straight in this state. We're spending more money than ever before. And the priorities are always second class, the fire department and all of the important water issues and electricity generation. And all of these things that we need for our day-to-day lives in a civilized society. They're at the bottom of a list. And we're putting money into let's investigate geothermal energy to see if we can make anything out of it. This is just not a good use of resources. And we have to we have to do a better job of prioritizing the current budget, rather than come at everybody for tax increases. Speaking of videos, your resources looks like President Trump has done something dramatic here in California,

38:26invoking the Defense Production Act over the weekend directing an oil company to restart California operations off the coast. And we had a chance to take a look at that important order and what that might mean to California as far as income is concerned and reviving the California oil industry here. Well, it would be so important to California to comment if we were doing production of oil in this state. Instead of pretending that we don't need to do it and importing the oil instead, which is what we're doing. We're not making do with less oil. We're just importing it on tankers, which is terrible. So we could be developing it here if not offshore than in places like Bakerfield, but definitely we can do so much more in California to safely develop our oil and gas resources that we need right here in this state. And then we wouldn't be paying so much to bring it in. We'd all be better off as far as the cost of living is concerned and the environment would be better off globally because of it. That is a big story that we are now following very closely and see how all this develops following that order that came out late Friday.

39:30Susan Shelley columnist for the Southern California news group in host of the Howard Jarvis radio show her Tuesday nights right here on 790 KBC, as well as our great sister station in the Bay Area KSO KSO. Thank you very much, Susan for joining us live this afternoon. Thank you for having a great weekend. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. And we got a positive start to the week on Wall Street. The now 388, the S&P 567, the Nasdaq of 268 today. The old and the 10 year note 4.22%. We see Bitcoin hovering just showing 75 K. Stay tuned out for the news blitz. You're in 790 KBC.