Professor Barbara Stone on the State of the Governor's Race

00:00:00
Speaker 1: And we continue at one oh five in the afternoon on The John Phillips Show, Mister Randy Wags in Culver City.

00:00:07
Speaker 2: Well, John, a lot of people thought it might be the Dodgers, or the Angels, or the Giants or the A's, but no, the first Major League Baseball brawl in the stands happen at a Podres game.

00:00:20
Speaker 1: I don't know. I've seen some footage from Dodger Stadium that looks like, I don't know, Thunderdome. That's every night, though. What was the sport that they used to play on Saturdays when they'd all be on the roller skates beating each other up roller derby? That's right. Eight hundred two two two five two two two is Jellphone number one. Eight hundred two two two five two two two. It is our pleasure to welcome our next guest to the program. She is a professor of political science emeritus at California State University at Fullerton. Professor Barbara Stone, Welcome, Hey.

00:01:01
Speaker 3: John, be kind about the Dodgers. I can't help it if neither the Angel team nor their fans get that excited anyway.

00:01:13
Speaker 1: Hey, we started out the season two and zero.

00:01:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, yeah, Okay, Hi John, nice to talk to you.

00:01:23
Speaker 1: All right, Well, let's go ahead and get right into this governor's race because Eric Swolwell just scooped up a big endorsement in Democratic Party politics, and that is the endorsement of the California Teachers Association. We received an email from a listener who was in the room when that decision was made. Apparently it was back and forth between him and Stire and it wasn't until the eleventh hour that he eked it out.

00:01:52
Speaker 3: You know, I'm going to go back. It's the Democrats who always love original causes and problems, but that in a lot of ways for the Democratic candidates, this really is much of a Gavin Newsom's fault. He sucks up the air, He for Prop fifty, sucked up the money, and nobody paid any attention to any of these people until quite recently. And actually with Tom Steyer, given what he has spent on TV advertising, because he's the one that didn't affect, he should be dropping out right now. People don't want him. But with that they left it so until really recently, and I'm not sure that it's still happening. The electorate is paying no attention to these people. John, So you come up with an Eric Swallwell, Oh, what does he have to offer? He is literally running against Donald Trump. That's it. I love his thing that he's the one Trump fears. I don't think. So he doesn't talk about California issues, but that's because he doesn't know anything about them. I think I said to somebody that he wouldn't talk about federal issues either because he doesn't know anything about them either. He I think has the worst attendance record in Congress, or if not pretty close. So you have a guy who's nothing except a media hog, and that's who's leading the Democratic charge.

00:03:33
Speaker 1: Dear lord, what is the biggest threat right now two Republicans in terms of trying to get two Republicans on the November ballot? Is it that Democrats will coalesce behind Swalwell and he will escape any kind of scandal that would kill off his campaign chances. Or would it be for Swalwell to implode long before the voting starts and his support then to scatter all over the board with one fewer candidate in the race and a candidate who was at the top of the heap. I don't know if the Republicans could get two candidates on the November ballot without Swallwell in.

00:04:15
Speaker 3: The race, as long as he's in third. I'm not going to argue with you on that. It's interesting and in fact, just a little insight. I think the obsession with two Republicans on the ballot and how it could happen appears to possess Democratic operatives and people such as you and I John, the general run of even Republican activists I talked to do not know this. One of them grabbed me less than a week ago, going, oh my god, Oh my god, did you hear? Did you hear we can get two Republicans on if things happen and he hadn't heard it before then he didn't know. So you have Republicans there, and the biggest threat from the Republican side is that they won't vote. Many think it's that they'll go for one or the other and therefore you won't evenly distribute the vote. But the way things have gone in the state, I think you're far bigger threat is that Republicans won't turn out because they haven't been recently. So we'll find out if our state and local parties are any good because they've got to make it happen. And that's the basis they've got to make it happen for In terms of the Democrats coalescing, I honestly don't know, since I'm looking at what's next is Katie Porter. That's a little hard to swallow. And they have other candidates, but it's difficult to tell anybody. Will anyone popping out? And the answer is, I just don't know. By the way, the reason you're suddenly hearing about all their money is that the end of a reporting quarter is today, and anyone who's raised anything is leaking it, so you're sure to get their numbers early. They've put pressure on everybody and you're seeing pretty maximum fundraising right now. Anyway, John, I simply don't know how it plays out on their side, but I don't for a minute think they're going to hold back going after Swallwell Well.

00:06:38
Speaker 1: To that point, what do you make of the philosophy of these Democrats and the single digits who seem to be aware that there is a push within the party to coalesce behind Swallwell and they're not afraid of that. Now, keep in mind it was a vere REGOs strategist to initially put out the tweet saying everyone in Democratic Party politics knows about the transgressions of Eric Swalwell regarding staffers and interns in his office, and they know that his campaign is eventually going to fizzle out because of it. They just don't know when. I would imagine that there seems to be the belief among those Democrats and single digits that Swalwell is problematic enough to where they don't have to worry about him running away with this thing.

00:07:28
Speaker 3: I think that's entirely possible, And you know, sometimes timing is everything. By the way, if I were Swallwell, I would not be threatening to sue cash Betel if he releases stuff on Fangfang because other times calling attention to Fangfang might or might not be good. But having just taken down the image of Caesar Chavez on basis like that, I don't think I would want Democrats in the state to be looking at it. But you never know.

00:08:01
Speaker 1: Do you think feminist democrats would have a problem if it was a consensual relationship between him and a Chinese spy. Do you think that's something that would offend democrats? I don't think it would offend them.

00:08:13
Speaker 3: I don't think it would defend them at all. Yeah, I'm going to go back, and this is a lot of years when now actually was a feminist organization and they hopped around looking for men who did bad things to women. And I was with a number of them and I couldn't help it. I brought up Bill Clinton. You know their answer, They wish he would harass them. I'm not making that up. So these things are very situational, John, and they'll only get offended if they basically don't like Smallwell anyway, Now I'm going to be unkind about Swallowell. I can see why some some women might might think he's attractive. He has a look about him. Oh, Matt Gates had it where I don't know how to describe it, but it's off putting and I'm not sure he'll be able to ride that. We're going to find out.

00:09:20
Speaker 1: He looks smarty to me, he looks greasy and smarty.

00:09:25
Speaker 3: That'll do it, that'll do it, and totally untrustworthy, which apparently he is. But I that literally, I hate to say it, John, I sincerely hope that we do what we need to do. And if you actually could get the two Republicans in the runoff. It would be future Many future generations would talk about it because it would be quite some thing. I suspect without knowing that the numbers will shake out. But I do know if Republicans turn out and they wait for Smallwell to collapse, and then small Well doesn't collapse, and then he collapses late, it's not impossible. And as you say, it's what the others do. I still haven't figured out what Katie Porter thinks she's doing. I understand better, well except Javier. But Sarah thinks if they'll just look at him, the Latino vote will come to him. That appears to not be happening. So I don't know where you go. Maybe it's because no one can say his name when the President calls you, Javier Bakaria, you have a problem for Secretary of Health and Educations? Are I nominate Javier Bakaria? Ha ha that one. I still haven't gotten over that. In case you haven't figured.

00:10:54
Speaker 1: That out, let's shift here and talk about the SEIU wealth come fuscation tax that they want on the November ballot. They initially started this out saying we're only going after billionaires and it's because they made their money here and the States broke and we need it and we want to go take it from them. And now polls have been leaked that they are now conducting surveys where they're asking voters if they would be opening open to doing the same thing to people were ten million dollars or more now on paper, I would imagine there's a lot of small business owners or farmers, or people who seem to be rich on paper but really aren't in reality, who this might nail in any number of ways. What do you make of this push where they're going after people who are not billionaires almost immediately or at least testing the waters on it.

00:11:51
Speaker 3: That they figured out that there are only so many billionaires and that those people are already leaving the States, so they're h I went and I actually looked at what this five percent one time applied to, and you nailed it. It applies to, by the way, individuals and trusts, so family trusts, It applies to businesses, securities, intellectual property. I will point out to you the particularly of the businesses. All kinds of people who individually don't begin to have that kind of money are going to be hit and more importantly, John Day, don't have the cash to pay it. You own stock. That means you have to sell stock to pay it. You own a business, You're going to have to get rid of it, least some of your business to pay it. The one I love is that they're also going to impose it on art and collectibles. But I don't I think most people have that much of that. But on top of that, you've got to go in and somehow or another, you have to evaluate the worth of these things, right. And yes, they're going after the nice middle class they claim they like, but somebody figured out there aren't enough tech billionaires and that they're all leaving just for fun. By the way, do you realize that they expect this to raise lots of money. The initiative itself says that ninety percent nine zero percent will go to healthcare. That is them. We have laws in California that say a high percentage of new money has to go to schools. This initiative exempts it gets rid of that says doesn't apply here. We have laws that say that some of it has to go to reserves. It says that doesn't apply to this money. Actually, CTA should really be against this because it's a terrible it's a terrible precedent, and you talk about sheer greed just as an aside to throw in. I was roving through the Secretary of State. Don't laugh at me, but the Secretary of State's website on what's in circulation. Somebody has in circulation an initiative that would prohibit healthcare unions from spending very much money at all on political matters. Now I disapprove of that, but boy, will I vote for it if they get it on the ballot.

00:14:57
Speaker 1: Well, what do you think of it? What do you make of Gavin on this? Because Gavin is traveling around the country promoting his book, promoting himself, doing the podcast, doing the national shows, speaking to democratic audiences, and what he would say is, well, I'm on the record being against this thing, and you go, Dodo, if you're not here traveling up and down the state making the argument against it, and this thing passes, your state is going to lose its wealth. And he seems as if checking the box of being on paper against it is enough and he doesn't have to put any elbow grease in it.

00:15:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, So tell me something new about him. I think from his point of nah, seriously, from his point of view, he did the big thing, well two things. He made the gesture this is a bad idea, I'm against it, and then believe it or not. He hasn't reversed core, which is sometimes typical Gavin. I am confident that in his mind he has done all he can do.

00:16:11
Speaker 1: And what was interesting if you go back to thirty six. He opposed thirty six, and he said he was going to travel up and down the state against it, and once he realized that the polling said it was going to pass in all fifty eight counties, he just cut bait yep.

00:16:28
Speaker 3: And the polling on this thing at this point is pretty decent. So I think you're lucky he hasn't just reverse course. John. And now let me be really cold, because the man is pulling actually quite well for president of the United States. I honestly don't think there are many voters in California right now that would care what Gavin said about this.

00:16:56
Speaker 1: You think Democratic voters in California have moved on from Gavin state issues.

00:17:02
Speaker 3: Yes, that's exactly what I think. You don't disagree to you, No.

00:17:09
Speaker 1: I don't, But he hasn't talked about state issues for quite some time. He's moved on.

00:17:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, which is why Eric Swalloll is a perfect replacement.

00:17:20
Speaker 1: Could you be the ghost of Christmas future here for a second and tell us what happens if we get a government in California from top to bottom, filled with people who only care about federal issues and could care less about state issues.

00:17:42
Speaker 3: You understand, of course that can happen. And as I think it through, they will even think that they're doing the right thing, since, after all, we are so dependent on federal money, we are so dependent on what the Feds want to do. That evil Donald Trump is trying to drill for oil off our coast, He's trying to interfere with our great universities. It is appropriate, they will say, to be focused on the Feds because they are the major barrier to making California great again. That's how they'll get away with it. The fact that they have very little knowledge about the state, to be honest, that they have a very little interest in the state, to be honest, that Heaven protect us if they ever did bother thinking about it to them will be irrelevant, I dear lord, and you know what, John, that could be the situation.

00:18:54
Speaker 1: I think at this point that's the likely situation.

00:18:58
Speaker 3: Yes it is, which is why I will go back to the only funny little glimmer of hope I see is that the Democrats will mess up their gubernatorial things so badly that you actually will get a Republican runoff, which will minimally foul the whole thing up for quite a while. And the key, I truly believe, one of the two keys, is that Republicans get out and vote. I know the state's gone crazy. I know you don't elect anybody, but you have a shot here, and official party people make sure you tell people that spend some money, do some stuff, because California used to be a nice place to live, all right.

00:19:51
Speaker 1: And Professor Barberstone, Professor of Political Science, Emeritas and cal State Fullerton, thank you. Eight hundred two two two five two two two is telephone number one eight hundred two two two five two two two. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. That's Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. And Randy, if you were to go back and listen to our interview with Spencer Pratt or Antonio Virigosa or anything from last week or the week before that, and that's easy to do.

00:20:26
Speaker 2: All you got to do is search for the John Phillips Show and wherever you get your podcast, that could be the Apple podcast app, iHeart Spotify, search for the John Phillip Show, hit subscribe, you get download all the episodes. You could do what George Gascon does every night because he's unemployed.

00:20:43
Speaker 4: On YouTube.

00:20:44
Speaker 2: You can get the free KABC app, the free KSFO app, or the free KMJ now app because we're on that station Saturdays at noon. Here's the thing. You can listen to this noon to three show wherever you are thanks to radio streaming. And you can listen to this noon to three show whenever you want thanks to podcasts. So even though it's a week later, you can hear our latest interview where John sat down with Antonio Viragosa and he gave us a new drop Dodgers.

00:21:15
Speaker 1: All right, So Farmer Vice President Kamala Harris is no longer an officeholder here in the state of California. Yet we are paying for her security detail, and we don't know just exactly how much it's costing us.

00:21:31
Speaker 2: And of course This is not a security detail because there's any active threat or something. This is her security detail that is flying around the country as she goes on her book tour. She's not employed by the state, she's not employed by the federal government, but she is getting a full CHP detail as she goes to profit off of a book sale. Mind you, the state of California is broke for more on this because she's been digging. Ashley Zavala tries to get some answers as to how this much is costing you. Here's kcra three and Ashley.

00:22:09
Speaker 1: Zavalla, Governor ga Gavin Newsm's and gazzin first time I've heard it pronounce that way.

00:22:17
Speaker 5: Governor Gavin Newsm's administration will not reveal how much Kamala Harris's security detail is costing taxpayers here in California. Thanks for being with us at five.

00:22:27
Speaker 2: I would just say, why is her book publisher not paying for security on this thing? Why is the state paying for it?

00:22:36
Speaker 1: Probably because she's not selling any books is cost Gavin said he bought the book, but he has not read it. I believe half of that statement.

00:22:48
Speaker 5: Is costing taxpayers here in California. Thanks for being with us at five. I'm Goolstern Dark and Lisa Gonzalez.

00:22:53
Speaker 6: Tonight, we're following up after we reported last month she's using dozens of California Highway Patrol officers as her security detail.

00:23:00
Speaker 1: Our case a rithe.

00:23:00
Speaker 2: I'm telling you right now this is very much like Ricardo Laura, where you want a special assignment on the CHP, you go be security detail. When he goes to Pride in New York to hang out with DJ Kitty.

00:23:11
Speaker 1: Glitter, I'm very kind of sketch and I don't think either one of them really need it. I think if you show up with a bunch of police officers, you get to enter the back door, you don't have to wait in line, you don't have to do a lot of the things that the peons have to do.

00:23:28
Speaker 2: You could make an argument that because Kamala is an international figure and she ran for president, maybe maybe she needs some kind of security.

00:23:36
Speaker 1: Nobody knows who Ricardo Laura is. Okay, you think for one second, if Dan Quayle were walking up and down the aisles at a mall, anyone would know who he is.

00:23:48
Speaker 2: Nobody would, But Kamala is a little more recognizable because she just ran for president than Dan Quayle, who hasn't been vice president since nineteen ninety two.

00:24:01
Speaker 7: Our KCER through political director Ashley Zavalas, was the first, And.

00:24:04
Speaker 2: No, al Gore doesn't need it either, because everyone would think, who's the guy that ate al Gore.

00:24:11
Speaker 1: Isn't the rule though, where they get it for something like six months.

00:24:15
Speaker 2: Yes, they get secret Service detail for six months afterwards, and then to be vindictive, the Trump people cut that off early, but then Gavin put his on there. But now we're way past that. She's doing this because she's getting a book tour. But why why are we paying for her to go sell a book? Yeah, at this point, it's been what a year and a half almost or a year and a quarter. It's the world's longest book tour, which, by the way, just canceled appearances in the state of California, including in Sacramento and Anaheim.

00:24:49
Speaker 7: Our KCRI through political director Ashley Zavalas, was the first report on this story.

00:24:53
Speaker 1: You've been digging into it. What are officials saying, Ashley Lisa.

00:24:56
Speaker 6: At this point they're not saying much, still citing those security reasons. These California High we patrol officers have been assigned to her and her international book tour since August. We've learned this is an unprecedented move and an amount of time for a former California state elected official. So, after we reported this last month.

00:25:14
Speaker 1: Where did she go internationally?

00:25:15
Speaker 2: And why are you selling a book about the presidential election in other countries?

00:25:22
Speaker 1: Who is buying that book? Who is reading that book? At this point, all of the interesting books about that campaign came out a long time ago, and they focused on Joe Biden and his mental decline and all of that business.

00:25:37
Speaker 2: She went to London, What exactly do the Brits want to hear about a failed presidential campaign? She went to Toronto?

00:25:47
Speaker 1: Isn't that where she grew up? Maybe that's why.

00:25:50
Speaker 6: So after we reported this last month, we submitted two California Public Records Act requests. So on March fourth, we filed one with the Governor's office. We asked specific for documents and information related to just the cost the numbers for the security arrangement. That can include communications with the book publisher, Simon and Schuster or the Harris campaign. We also requested budget documents. A couple of weeks later, the Governor's Legal Unit replied that quote, the Governor's office is not the custodian.

00:26:20
Speaker 1: I like that term. The legal Unit.

00:26:24
Speaker 6: Applied that quote, the Governor's office is not the custodian of records. For this request, please contact the Highway Patrol. We actually did contact the Highway Patrol that same day. On March fourth, I submitted the request through their public records portal. I asked specifically for the salaries or hourly rates and overtime pay for the officers assigned to Harris between August of last year and April of this year. I also asked for receipts or evidence showing the total amount paid for flights, hotels, meals, and other travel expenses during that time period. The Highway Patrol confirmed they have records related to the situation, but they will not release them, citing a section of the law that protects law enforcement related records.

00:27:08
Speaker 2: Why why, why, why why can't they be transparent If any of the CHP officers on Comalist detail got lounge access. This is just like the Capital Annex project, and just like the high speed rail. We know the costs are exploding, they won't tell us what the costs are, and then they tell us how transparent they are. You know, Gavin is touted while police departments up and down the state are seeing staffing shortages. He has spent a lot of money staffing up the CHP. But are the CHP officers doing what they did this week on the Bay Bridge and taking down the e byte takeovers? How many CHP officers are on some kind of nonsensical security detail?

00:27:51
Speaker 1: And don't forget even when he sent them into Oakland and San Francisco, didn't They primarily perform administrative tasks.

00:28:00
Speaker 6: But they will not release them. Citing a section of the law that protects law enforcement related records beneficial with the public record sector, wrote quote, releasing I.

00:28:09
Speaker 1: Like the legal unit better than the public record sector. Me too.

00:28:14
Speaker 6: Releasing costs related to a protective detail would reveal sensitive security information?

00:28:20
Speaker 1: Oh no, it would not. No, this is them trying to hide the cost from us.

00:28:27
Speaker 6: We also reached out to the book publisher Simon and Schuster for comment.

00:28:30
Speaker 2: Why aren't they paying for her detail? Don't they want her to be secure when she goes to Canada to sell a book about an American election?

00:28:37
Speaker 1: Good question.

00:28:39
Speaker 6: We also reached out to the Harris campaign. We have yet to hear back. I just want to double down on the fact that we're not asking for location. We're not asking for even.

00:28:46
Speaker 2: By the way, Kamala, who's not running for anything, send a text out to everyone saying, give me money.

00:28:54
Speaker 1: It's unreal that she's willing to take California Highway Patrol protect action from a state that she knows is broke, only to feed her own ego.

00:29:06
Speaker 6: We also reached out to the Harris campaign. We have yet to hear back. I just want to double down on the fact that we're not asking for location. We're not asking for even the number of officers. We are just asking for the numbers. Just the balance sheet, like exactly, tell us at the autumn of the total cost exactly and even if you can't, you know, divvy it out.

00:29:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, how many rooms do they have to book when they go to these hotels?

00:29:28
Speaker 1: Can you imagine what the cost must be if they're hiding it and they're willing to go to these lengths to hide it. Divvy it out.

00:29:36
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's just a number, just I mean, and that's what we've made the case in our request at the California.

00:29:42
Speaker 2: It is not in any of her political duties as a former vice president, as a former senator or former attorney general to write a book. So why are we paying for her to go on a book tour. It doesn't make any sense. Well, just imagine, let's say she's flying first class. Job is to protect her.

00:30:02
Speaker 1: I guess in theory on the plane you can be in coach, and you and your team can be in coach. But you can also make the argument, hey, if someone on the plane causes her problems, we need to be around and be able to respond to it, so we need first class tickets too.

00:30:20
Speaker 2: That would be such a waste though, because you're on duty and you can't drink.

00:30:23
Speaker 1: Well, that's what the rules say. And if she's on tour and she's at the Four Seasons, the government rate is probably at a hotel down the road, at the travel lodge. But you could make the argument, if she's getting ice from the ice machine at two o'clock in the morning, we need to be around to be there if someone causes her a problem, so we should stay at the four Seasons too. And if that's the attitude that you take, just imagine how much you could run up these costs.

00:31:00
Speaker 6: A constitution would say that taxpayers are at least entitled to just know that simple information.

00:31:04
Speaker 5: Absolutely, So there's this. Also, we know that she canceled her book tour. The stops here in California, including Sacramento. So what's the reason on.

00:31:14
Speaker 2: That, Oh, she doesn't need to make it. She doesn't need to travel to California. She's been here. Now, you know what's left on the book tour all of the primary voting states.

00:31:26
Speaker 1: You know what the irony is. We're paying for her security around the globe, yet she canceled all of the California stops. So in theory, if we're going to pony up for the security of a dignitary when they're in the state, that's the portion that she cut out.

00:31:45
Speaker 2: She's got four more stops on this tour, Greensboro, Charlotte, Columbia, South Carolina, and she ends it in Sylvannah, all states important to the Democratic primary.

00:32:01
Speaker 1: And we're paying for this. Eight hundred two two two five two two two is a telephone number. What eight hundred two to two five two two two. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Johnny Don't Like Show at gmail dot com. That's Johnny Don't Like show at gmail dot com. Well, we know the state of California is losing population, but within the state of California, oh boy, is La County really losing population.

00:32:31
Speaker 2: In fact, in just the last year, it looks like La County lost fifty thousand people, which is an entire Dodger Stadium worth of people.

00:32:43
Speaker 1: And I read something in the Wall Street Journal yesterday saying that the entertainment industry has essentially left Los Angeles and is not coming back anytime soon. And then I read something else that said, even within Los Angeles County, there's been population shifts where people are moving out of city centers and they're moving into areas that are considered to be fire risk areas. So you live in let's say downtown LA and then you determine, Okay, it's filled with the homeless, it's filled with crime, and it's not going to get better anytime soon. I'm going to move to someplace where it's safer. I'm going to move to Pasadena, or I'm going to move to Glendora or Claremont or some place up against the San Gabriel Mountains where if there's a fire you might be in danger. And that's exactly what the state of California doesn't want. They don't want more people moving into fire risk areas. They want people moving out of those areas into areas where you don't have to worry about it as much.

00:33:55
Speaker 2: Now, there are definitely people who are leaving the city of La for other parts of La County. There are plenty of people who are leaving La County for other parts of the state. There are plenty of people leaving the state of California for places like Texas and Florida. And then there are people leaving all together and saying SCREWT.

00:34:13
Speaker 1: I'm going to Spain. Uh oh. For more on this, here is NBCLA.

00:34:19
Speaker 8: New data from the US Census shows more people left La County last year than anywhere else in the country.

00:34:27
Speaker 1: Shocker. If you're on the board of Supervisors, if you're on the city council, isn't that an indictment of your leadership?

00:34:36
Speaker 8: No Ore Lolita Lopez explains the consequences for the county and the state if that continues.

00:34:43
Speaker 9: It's been honestly one of the best decisions that I've ever made in my life.

00:34:47
Speaker 7: Perry Hartley moved from Texas in twenty twenty five to work remotely in Spain. It's the people, the lifestyle, the quality of life.

00:34:56
Speaker 2: This April marks Okay, this story's making me very, very, very jealous.

00:35:02
Speaker 1: Is it making you crave Paiea always?

00:35:05
Speaker 7: This April marks one year since Jennifer Kemp applied for a digital nomad visa to also live and work in Spain. Literally, I live off of about twenty five percent of what it would take for me to live in the States.

00:35:18
Speaker 1: America is great.

00:35:18
Speaker 2: Twenty five percent and you're surrounded by Vino Tinto and pie.

00:35:22
Speaker 1: Come on, let's go. You think that woman's blown a point to twenty four to seven. It's Spain. You're expected to be drinking all the time.

00:35:31
Speaker 9: America is great for maybe entrepreneur roalship, or they.

00:35:35
Speaker 2: Have something called La Ra del Vermote where right after church on Sunday you go have a vermoth.

00:35:40
Speaker 1: Oh mine.

00:35:41
Speaker 9: America is great for maybe entrepreneur roalship or making a lot of money and your career. But I feel that Europe and Spain in general is really good for the work life balance.

00:35:54
Speaker 2: Someone like herself as Siesta, I could tell it's a real thing. Even in the city center in the middle of Madrid. Everyone just kind of chills out in the middle of the day. If you're working, you go home.

00:36:07
Speaker 1: Now, if I lived in that kind of environment, I wouldn't be very productive. Nope, but it's Europe. Nobody cares.

00:36:14
Speaker 7: These stories are not unique and come at a moment of slower growth in population nationwide. California and La County actually saw a decline in population. In La County, there was a drop of nearly fifty four thousand from July twenty twenty four to July twenty twenty five, according to US Census data. To give some perspective, that is little under the seating capacity of Dodger Stadium.

00:36:37
Speaker 1: That's a lot of people. Well, assuming there's a sellout.

00:36:43
Speaker 7: Drops can mean losses. Back in twenty twenty, California's first population decline in state history contributed to one less seat in the House of Representatives.

00:36:52
Speaker 2: And the twenty thirty census is going to be brutal for California. It's going to be between three and five and probably it's going to be more like four to five.

00:37:03
Speaker 7: The state's Department of Finance tells US roughly half of the outfit from La County in this latest data followed the January wildfires in twenty twenty five.

00:37:12
Speaker 1: That doesn't sound good either.

00:37:14
Speaker 2: Okay, half of the people who left La County left because you burned their house down.

00:37:20
Speaker 1: Again, a complete indictment of the leadership of the political class.

00:37:24
Speaker 7: Other factors include the search for more affordable housing and stricter immigration policies.

00:37:30
Speaker 4: I have some people in my program right now who have been naturalized. They lived in the US for ten years and they voluntarily left.

00:37:38
Speaker 7: These are one of the many stories SHAWNA. Lumm is hearing.

00:37:41
Speaker 4: I'm the founder of move Overseas Now it is Mike.

00:37:44
Speaker 1: Let me write that one down. I might need it. You know, it's funny back in the old days when the Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Maria were all coming over, and then the Pilgrims came after them, Plymouth rock the whole thing. The United States was becoming a country. All the people with initiative in Europe decided, all right, there's nothing for us here. Let's risk it all and go to the United States and strike it rich. And now all their lazy descendants are moving back.

00:38:14
Speaker 4: It is my company where I help Americans relocate to Europe and Latin America.

00:38:19
Speaker 7: Originally from Los Angeles, she has lived overseas since twenty fifteen. She says she has been seeing an uptick and calls for herself.

00:38:26
Speaker 2: And if you've got a pension and you can live anywhere, why move to Texas when you can move to Costa Rica.

00:38:31
Speaker 1: A lot of people are doing that.

00:38:34
Speaker 7: Originally from Los Angeles, she has lived overseas since twenty fifteen. She says she has been seeing an uptick and calls for her services, including some free classes that led to a survey among some clients. Out of more than two hundred responses, quality of life, healthcare, and politics top the list of why life.

00:38:51
Speaker 4: Story situations like Hi, I'm an LGBTQIA.

00:38:56
Speaker 2: Okay, I think we're done. We're just out of time him