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Sept. 7, 2019 - Freedomain Radio - Stefan Molyneux
28:58
Sunset in the Golden State - Ep 7: Corrupt Government Part 2
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Time Text
I'm sorry, I'm I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
About 20 years ago, I remember it like it was 19 years ago, but about 20 years ago, I was at a party and I was talking to this old guy who was a retired teacher.
He said, in Toronto, right, the town that I grew up in, the city I grew up in, he said in Toronto, he used to make $15,000 a year as a teacher, but he could get home for $20,000.
Now, in 1970 in California, You only had to spend three times your annual income to get a house.
Three times your annual income to get a house.
Now it's well north of ten times your annual income to get a house.
And that all becomes ridiculously unsustainable.
That's why a lot of people are bailing out.
And they're saying, listen, I can either get a tiny little box in California or I can get a four-bedroom mansion in Texas.
You can hear complaints from old people in California, because old people in California who bought a house 40 years ago, 30 years ago, and have paid it off a long time ago, and now the house price has gone through the roof.
I've heard this from old people in California.
Like, yeah, my kids come to visit and I can see.
They're like vultures circling, you know?
Are you feeling well?
Do you have any aches and pains?
Do you have any odd lumps?
Anything happening to you?
Because they're waiting.
They're circling like sharks on a wounded swimmer waiting for the old people to kick off so they can sink their fangs into the gold mine.
This is the new gold rush. The new gold rush, not 1848.
It's 2019. House prices...
In California. Literally, look up there, there's gold in Embar Hills.
Let's get to the housing thing, because this blows my mind in San Francisco.
You can make $117,000 in a household and you're still considered poor.
You're still considered...
I don't know, what's the official phrase?
It's not quite the poverty line, but it's like you're in need of help at $117,000.
Is that mostly the cost of housing?
And why is it so high? You must tell me.
Why? Sorry, I feel like I'm yelling at you here.
You must tell me. I have been living in San Francisco for 33 years.
The last recession we have, it was 2008, remember?
The whole United States. So it go drop a little bit in 2009, 2009.
Since then, we had a recession.
A lot of people lost their job and the unemployment is pretty high.
And back then, the mayor, back then, they draw a lot of high-tech companies and high IT companies.
The people who make money.
Did they offer them tax breaks?
Yes. Free incentive.
Like Twitter. Like Facebook.
Like the big company.
They come in, they give them free intensive.
And you're talking about millions, millions of dollars.
So when they come, you're talking about thousands, 5,000, 20,000, 30,000 employees flooded to the place.
Then... Where are you going to leave?
But why don't they just build more houses?
That's exactly the problem.
I have said it to the mayor.
I said, you should demand the people who are with stock options, big companies, they're billionaires, build their own employee housing.
That would be all right. So the city will not be kicked out.
But here's what happened. The reason we are getting so poor is because they're hardworking families.
You're talking about back then it was...
$12 minimum, $13 minimum an hour.
Now we are at $15 minimum, maybe $16 now.
But still, for the money we lump it together, it's only like after the net tax is about $2,500.
There's no way for one income you can run a place.
$3,400 for one bedroom apartment in San Francisco.
So people ended up with roommates.
Or four people. I talked to a grad student the other day.
He's like he had to room with a whole bunch of people just to make ends meet.
Yes. So you think about the people who live in San Francisco for a long time.
Their housing is very low.
So here comes the sad part.
Oh, wait, wait. Let me tell you.
Sorry. Talked to a guy today on the street.
Yes. His rent was controlled.
Yes. $640 a month.
Got a place in this neighborhood that was affordable at the time.
You bought a place back when it was cheaper?
No. Oh, you rent. Rent. Right, right.
And... I've been here long enough that I'm under rent control, so I'm paying the same price.
Wait, for 40 years you've been under rent control? No, for 20 years I've been under rent control.
Now, I don't mean to get too personal.
Don't have to answer anything.
Oh, okay. But I was reading, was it San Francisco, the average price for a one-bedroom, unfurnished apartment is $3,400 a month.
Now, just give me a ballpark of what are you paying.
Oh, I'm paying $650, man.
You're paying $650. What's your square footage?
I have a one bedroom.
It's a big place.
I can walk around in it.
650. Wow.
So for you it's good because the government will put people in jail who want to raise your rent, right?
Like they can't do it. Yeah.
Right. Wow.
So he's like, San Francisco was great.
It's like it's great for you, but it's not great for everyone else.
Yes. But the sad part, this is the sad part.
As of today, February 2019, San Francisco has more than 40,000 empty apartments.
Empty. No, I don't believe you.
Empty. I refuse to believe you.
Empty. It can't happen. Yes.
Why? How can this happen? Every time when you have somebody left the housing, you know, you have a housing recording, and people refuse to run it out again because of the rental control that is manipulated by the far-left Democratic Party election.
Okay, so sorry, let me just follow this.
I mean, the electoral office. So it's a cheap apartment.
Somebody moves somewhere else.
Can they not raise the rents?
No, that's not the reason.
San Francisco giving free legal help, free lawyer for tenants to sue property owners.
So, when the government give the money to the tenants to look for business, and when there's no business from the tenants, they look for people, not on people's door.
Hey, you look for a lawyer, I can help you sue?
And here's what happened. But sue for what?
Wait, wait, wait, wait! Wait!
Let's say you live in a place, and many of the place they live there, they're low rent, but the place is getting older.
They can't afford the maintenance. Yeah, the maintenance, and then they say, oh yeah, you know, it has modem in some place, and then they look for a lawyer.
And then they end up in court, they sue the insurance money, millions, half million, 100,000, 150,000.
Not only that, but the person, the people who run it out of the place, they are psychologically going through abusive situations.
Oh yeah, it's horrible. Yeah, yeah.
Because in San Francisco, we are 35% Asian property owners.
And most of the owners, I'm talking about the limited English, they're property owners.
They have a good heart. They rent it low to people.
But then they ended up being sued.
So when the word spread out in the community, people withhold the housing.
Isn't that sad? They won't rent it because with the lawsuits, the trauma and the expense, they can't make money.
Yes, because the government...
40,000 you said?
More than that. Minimum, 40,000 to 50,000.
You're not just talking bedrooms. You're talking like whole places.
Places. Apartment, empty apartment houses.
You know what? My mind is blown.
But right now, you know what happened at City Hall?
This is a couple weeks ago.
And they have another law.
They're going to say the 11th Board of Supervices, they're all Democrats.
No Republican, no Libertarian, no nothing.
Not a zip. Only Democrats.
They say, oh, let's tax those empty apartments.
Oh, yeah, yeah. They did this in Canada, too.
In BC, they tried, yeah.
So... Then we know that this is a tyranny government.
We are in dictatorship. We are no longer people government.
We are no longer supported by a people-running government that is created by the people.
You cannot tax people just because people have an empty apartment.
It's because you gave them $13 million to anyone, any tenants who are rich, poor, and anyone.
Oh, for legal aid, this $13 million?
Yes, free. Do you understand when tenants...
It's because the tenants outnumber the property owners so they get more votes from the tenants than they would from the property owners.
You're exactly right.
It's a numbers game. Oh, yeah.
I talked to politicians.
I said, can I talk to you about this?
They said, shh, shh. You know, there's more Tiendians vote than property owners.
So it tells me that the career politicians, they are not helping the Tiendians or residents who need housing.
They are not protecting the teachers.
They are not working to protect our public resources and use the public money to help the hard-working families.
Okay, let me ask you another question.
I tried asking someone in there.
They wouldn't give me a good answer. So this is all on you now.
Okay. Okay.
The Chinese or the Asians vote Democrat like crazy.
Yes. Like more so than Hispanics in California.
Why? Okay. Why?
I must know. This is a very good question.
Because like in San Francisco.
I was a Democrat who put the Japanese in a tournament camp.
It's not the same though.
Wait, wait, wait. San Francisco.
has been bought and sold and controlled by a group of elites who are having money.
They are using the super PAC. It's called political action committee, super PAC. They wanted to buy whoever they want to buy and this person will go into the office and do exactly what the law they wanted to do.
For the last Republican mayor, for San Francisco mayor, 55 years ago.
I know. You still haven't answered my question, though.
Why? Because we have nobody else to vote for.
Because no Republican can get it?
No, no, no. In San Francisco, it's all Democrats.
There's no other people to vote for.
So, and at the same time, here's what I know.
A lot of those Asian people, especially the seniors that are living in public housing, from my observation, many of those seniors are manipulated and miseducated by the people who give them money.
When I say give them money, it means they hire them $25 an hour or $200 a day or give them red envelopes to pick pocket and say, oh yeah, vote for this, vote for this.
You know, when you're in the TV all the time, when you're in the community all the time, what are you going to do?
Vote. That is misleading, miseducating, and at the same time, it's manipulative for the community.
Because, you know, part of me would say, okay, well, Asians make more than whites in America.
Oh, I didn't know that. It's true.
Asians make more than whites in America.
So I would sort of say, okay, well, if Asians are making a lot of money, wouldn't they be somewhat interested in some of the tax cuts that the Republicans might talk about?
But instead, it's just all Democrat all the time.
Oh. This is what I know.
The Asian people coming from a different country.
We get used to be government in control.
When the government says so, we zip our mouth.
But this is not this country.
This country is democracy.
You are not zipping your mouth. I can see that very clearly.
Well, I've been here for long enough.
I came here for high school.
Come on. I came here from high school.
I got my three college degrees in here, so I kind of learned the system.
If you do not like something, say it.
If you do not agree with them, vote out for it.
And if you do not like what you see, it's illegal, report them.
That's exactly what I do.
When I was nominated to run for mayor, especially this election, this is a four-year term.
I hope the people who are in San Francisco, knowing that we, the people, no longer endure this garbage, corruption, we should wake up from it.
Because our children and youth have been poisoning from the educational system that we are facing today.
And if you look around San Francisco, if you look about California, what do we see?
Drugs, drug dealers, recreational cannabis, homeless, mentally ill, and the politicians get richer, the richer people get more money, and the poor get poorer, and the welfare people continue to blame, blame, blame, blame.
And the middle class is being hacked out.
Yes! And then also, obviously, Asian. And then even a lot of people from India.
Once again, probably due to the...
There's an H-1B visa thing and all that stuff.
Yeah, yeah. As I know, it's a lot more than normal.
I mean, it used to be...
Most people that were from India that lived in the Bay Area lived in Fremont or some other area like that.
But now I see a lot more, which is fine.
I love everybody.
But I just don't like to see just...
What I remember as being San Francisco, this quirky city where anyone can come here from anywhere and do it.
Do what they want. You can be an artist.
You can be whatever. No, you can't.
If you're not in the tech world or in some high-paying job, you can't really...
That's the fascinating thing, is this whole middle class seems to be kind of hollowed out in San Francisco.
You've got a lot of really rich people who's like, yeah, $1.6 million for the average home.
I think I found that under my Volkswagen seat cover or something like that.
And then there's people who are pretty poor.
I mean, we were just down in sort of the Skid Row area.
And so the middle class, which I consider kind of like the ballast or the...
The sort of dorsal fin of society that keeps it steady is really getting hollowed out.
It's like super rich, super poor, almost like Central America.
I would fall into that category.
I'm a chef. Currently, actually, I was teaching recently in the school's closing, so now I'm looking for work.
But my industry is suffering a lot because the cost of living has gotten to the point where Nobody can eat out anymore, right?
No, they can eat out. Oh, yeah.
But there's plenty of people. I mean, all these tech people have plenty of money to eat out, and they like to eat out.
But there's not...
Go to every restaurant, even the best restaurants.
The ones that you hear that have Michelin stars out here in San Francisco, they're all looking for cooks.
They're all looking for dishwashers.
I mean, where it used to be, there was lines of young cooks trying to get into these places.
Like when I was cooking in the early 2000s...
You know, I worked at a couple of Michelin-starred restaurants, and it was like, you had to write letters to them and say, can I work for free for a month?
And if you like me, you can hire me.
That's how competitive it was.
Now, the best restaurants, Michelin-starred restaurants, chefs that you see on all these shows, Mind of a Chef, they're putting ads out on Craigslist, looking for, you know, three Michelin-starred, looking for line cook, you know.
It was unheard of, you know.
Even though the minimum wage is higher than anywhere in the...
Yeah, $15 an hour or something like that.
So let's say you're making $18 an hour as a line cook.
That's not enough to rent a place.
That's not even enough to rent a room really in San Francisco.
So what's happening is that young cooks who traditionally would either go to New York or San Francisco are now either going...
Now you have little pockets of good food like in Texas and L.A.'s come up big time.
So now they're just staying there.
They're not even bothering trying to come and cook in San Francisco.
Are there any conversations that you've had, friends and family, about some of the...
I mean, it's a little...
You know, and with that, it's fine if everything was, if this was like Singapore and the streets were immaculate and everything, but we're not even near that.
I mean, it's like, you pay more and everything seems to be a little worse.
Yeah, that's kind of true, right?
The roads are horrible no matter where you go.
So it's a little weird. You wonder, like, where's all this money going, you know?
That is a question I've heard a bunch of times because people say, you know, like, there's hundreds of billions of dollars flowing in and it's like, they spend about 1% of the budget goes on roads and stuff like that.
Yeah, especially, like, my wife and I, we don't have kids, so we have, you know, Decent income, so we pay on top of what they take out, you know, every check.
At the end of the year, we always end up bowing.
Well, and there's gas tax, sales tax, and all that, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I mean, it's definitely...
I mean, it doesn't...
You don't really think about it. I mean, as I said, we...
My wife and I... My wife also grew up out here, so it's...
You're just used to it, I guess, or you don't really think about it.
But I mean, since you asked me, I'm like, yeah, you do pay a lot.
Does the finances have anything to do with why you have kids or don't have kids?
Like, is it tough to plan for that?
No, no, no. We're both very career-oriented and just not a good time.
We were talking about how only 30% of Californians are meeting requirements in mathematics.
Here's a tangible, if not downright terrifying example.
It's not one hour!
So let's talk a little bit about the crime.
You gave me a number while we were just walking over here about car break-ins.
Tell me about that. I'm keeping half an eye on our car out there.
So according to police, in 2017 we have 36,000 car break-ins that is only reported, okay?
Not to say a lot of people, they don't want to be reported anymore.
36,000. 36,000 a year.
So you're talking about minimum 100 a day.
So this is 2019.
I believe it's still more than 100 a day.
You know why? Because there's so many in downtown.
I work in downtown near City Hall.
Every day we go in, there's always car over here, over there, you know, crashing.
And with all those glasses on the floor.
People get tired and people will not report.
So for the reported ones...
Especially if nothing happens, right? Nothing!
They just say, here's what you do when you go say, excuse me, my car get broken.
Anybody hurt? No. Anybody die?
No. Well, just report it to your insurance.
That's all they get. So insurance rates go through the roof.
Yes. My car get break in twice.
Twice! Over what time frame?
Overnight, I parked in front of my place.
Overnight, I parked about 7 or 8 at night, and then I get up 7 and 8, and then it's broken.
And at one time, one of the times that it was broken, it was eight cars in the same street.
Eight cars. Oh, just boom, boom, boom.
And my car is in the middle.
So I call the police, Bayview.
Anybody die? Anybody sick?
Anybody? You know, the same three questions.
I said, no. They said, well, you can just report it to your police.
I mean, to the insurance.
I said, wait a minute.
This is eight cars right here.
They said, well, eight cars, eight cars.
You understand how hard it is for people?
But think about it. I can speak the language to make a police report.
Can you imagine what you see tonight for the crime, the people, the elderly, they call, no translation, and they talk it?
A woman was telling me that she thought maybe, it was you, it was about 20% of the people there would speak English, right, in the room that we were in tonight.
So they don't want to have, right?
We had about 50 people tonight. I think it was 50 people.
Yeah. And the point is, no matter what we do in San Francisco, when we have those sanctuary laws in California, sanctuary city, we attract the most criminal activities to come to our city, and we don't know who they are.
We don't know where they are, what they are, what they are, we don't know.
And the politician is...
And almost 73%, 72, 73% of the immigrant households are on welfare.
I don't know. What kind of, and that's not just San Francisco, that's sort of California as a whole.
What conceivable benefit is that to the local taxpayers?
To have people just come in, absorb welfare, if ever paid into the system, it's just money, money, money.
I mean, how does this help?
Who would want to vote for that?
Yet here it happens all the time.
Yes. The word is morally outrageous.
Morally outrageous.
When people have no God, when people have no heart, when people have no family, when people never get married, when people have no family-oriented life experience, they will never think about...
A future life. The only focus right now, I'm a politician.
I'm going to be here for four years, another four years, eight years.
I'm going to move on to higher up.
They're only thinking about themselves.
If you look at San Francisco, to look at the electoral offices, include the mayor.
Have they married? Have they have kids?
Have they have experience? What do they have?
What do they get? Look at their lifetime, then you know why our law is so sick and so sad that it's not protecting hardworking families and people appreciate life.
What we see, that's exactly what you said, welfare.
Because welfare...
Make people don't want to work.
It's entitlement. If you pay my bill, I don't want to work.
I really don't want to work. Pay my bill.
Well, and also the money you get on welfare is not taxed.
That's right. So, like a woman with two kids under the age of five gets $35,000, $36,000, $37,000 a year.
Now, if she wants to go make that, she's got to make $50,000, $52,000, $53,000 a year.
And then she's got to pay for someone to take care of her kids.
Yes. Which means she's got to make $60,000, $70,000 a year to cover what...
It's the welfare trap. You can't possibly jump out of welfare and stop making that kind of money.
It takes a long time to make that kind of money.
Well, you're talking to the right person.
I'm a social worker. I deal with families.
So here's what happened. The law itself is a problem.
If you work minimum wage, And you have two kids, and you deduct the tax, you make the income, right?
But then your healthcare may not cover.
And it becomes zero to them.
So what they think about is that, okay, on welfare, because welfare will give you free Medi-Cal.
And a third of Californians are on that program.
Yes, yes, free Medi-Cal.
But my understanding, there's a lot of people also work, but they work for cash.
Right. Under the table.
Under the table. If you talk to people, and the government knows, the social worker knows, the electoral offices knows.
You know how we know? Because they said illegal immigrant is okay.
Undocumented immigrant is okay.
So they have welfare. Section 8 housing is covered by federal.
They get free food stamps.
They get free medical. Their kids go to school.
These kids go to school, free education.
At the same time, they work as a housekeeper and they do other chores.
They work for cash. Am I right?
Some of them might be dealing drugs or even doing criminal stuff for money, right?
Yes. And up to prostitution or selling drugs.
Do the board of supervisors know?
Do the mayors know? They know.
What did they do? They turned around.
They didn't say anything. They didn't see anything.
But will people talk to them?
Yeah, they know. Okay, so just for those who don't know, I'm sure you do know this, but It's more than $30 billion a year that California spends on illegal aliens.
And that's... No, no, no. $275 billion.
$275 billion California spent on illegal undocumented activities.
That is... Oh, activities. The whole thing.
I'm just talking about direct. That's 17 plus percent of the entire California budget goes on this particular issue.
You're talking about even higher...
Yes. It was on the news.
So, why?
I mean, why? I mean, are these people voting a lot?
I mean, is there illegal voting that's going on?
Or is it the family and relatives?
Or if they start deporting, does everyone go crazy?
I mean, what is the incentive for this?
Maybe the question for me to ask you, have you thought about that the people who represent the government, they might into something that you and I don't know?
Because it's common sense.
It must be. It makes no common sense for a government to enjoy and, you know, invite people, open borders, come and spend $275 billion from California.
Meanwhile, we have 170,000 homeless people dying on the street.
And the hardworking teachers have no place to live.
And the minimum of people, they cannot survive.
What kind of government we are?
Talk to Gavin Newsom.
I don't know. Talk to Landon Britt, the mayor.
Okay, let me ask you about this, this last question.
Thank you very much for the interview, by the way.
First Amendment, Second Amendment.
Yes. What is going on in California?
They're trying to introduce speeches, bills to limit free speech.
There seems to be a constant attack on gun ownership.
Are they trying to turn it into Europe?
Like, what's the plan here?
This is what I think. You know when a person had a personality disorder, mental health?
When they have a defiant disorder, a defiant...
Oppositional defiant disorder, ODD. Just defiant.
Being defiant doesn't mean they have mental health.
It's just being defiant. This is how I think about it.
Donald Trump is our grandpa.
Gavin Newsom is my father.
Okay, Landon Burt is my auntie.
Right? The level of government.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because our grandpa, Donald Trump, trying to do good and revive the entire United States to rebuild America away from drugs, away from opioids, and try to regain the business and draw the attraction, give jobs back to the American people.
But then you have a governor who is not into people.
They want politics.
They want power.
So they are defiant to the federal government.
So whatever the federal want to do and what Donald Trump, you know, President Trump want to do, for example, our Constitution, right, our Second Amendment for gun control and everything, they just want to do everything opposite.
They turn it sanctuary city.
Wow, welcome to California.
The point is We the people suffer.
The point is, we the people, we pay for it.
Maybe my question to the audience, if you're in San Francisco, if you're in California, why you keep voting the same tyranny, dictatorship governor and mayor, and you suffer?
And people suffer. I don't see my children have future.
I don't see my grandkids have future.
The way that we run it, it's socialism.
It's communism. It's the end of the world.
There's no end to it.
There's no way in hell you open a border and welcome people and you hire the tax and give it to the people here.
Give it to you. And meanwhile, the people in here, the people obey the law.
The people obey the law to come to the United States.
They wait for years and years and can't get in.
What kind of government I'll be?
I don't get it. There's no common sense at all.
All right, do me a favor. This is your camera.
Tell people where to find you on the web and why they should vote for you.
Oh, I should have... I'll move out.
It's all yours. Well, my name is Ellen Lee Zhao.
I am a family social worker.
I have been living in San Francisco for the last 33 years.
I have been working for the San Francisco government as a public social worker for the last 15 years.
What I've been through as a government employee We are no longer a people government.
We are a tyranny government.
We are a dictatorship government.
If you do not wake up right now, then you have no future in San Francisco.
Our kids will not have future.
Our kids and education has been poisoning by the far left.
Now is the time to vote.
Ellen Lee Zhao for mayor for November 5th, 2019 election.
Because we the people.
We, you, the people and the voters will make San Francisco safe and clean in 2019.
My history with Christianity in particular has been very complex.
There have been times where I have been enormously critical of Christianity.
And then there are times, as in now, where I feel almost hovering above a precipice that falls to the wisdom of the divine.
I am decreasingly of the belief that philosophy can save the West.
And I fear or feel or perhaps hope that the day may come when I ask myself this question.
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