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I Am six forty the talkback question today. If you're on the iHeart video app, just hit the microphone icon that allows you to leave us a message later on the show here at the six o'clock hour. There's been a shift worldwide. There's a global shift in the views on spankings, but in the United States the majority of adults still support spanking. So the question is, were you spanked as a kid, and then do you did you
spank your kids or do you spank your kids. I'm just curious about what you have to say, and a few of you had thoughts.
Oh boy, oh boy, the threat of getting spanking spanked was always there. Yeah, and the way till your father gets home was the worst of the worst. But my mom did spank me every once in a while. I always had it coming, and even as a little kid, I felt so bad because my mother would just be crying if I don't know why you did this to me.
Ami feels so horrible.
Oh man, it didn't even I didn't think about the spanking part of it because she felt so bad.
Yeah, mine did the same thing.
My mom crying while she's spanking you.
Yeah.
I actually respect his mom for that. I do because I think far too many people start spanking because they've they don't know what else to do, and they just go, I gotta get control, so they just start spanking, right, And it sounds like his mother was thoughtful about it, and I'm sure it's she was probably spanked as a child. You know, we learned from our parents. Doctor Wendy will tell you about that later on in her show. But I think his mother was probably like, I don't want
to have to spank you. But this is what I know is discipline goes so well.
I get that I am Dutch in Indonesian and for all of the Dutch and Dutch indos in southern California, I had the wooden spoon. It wasn't a hand, yeah, you know, it wasn't a sandal. It was the wooden spoon.
Let's I want to get into your Dutch Indonesian thing in a little bit, Andrew, because I feel like you probably were some sort of descendant of an explorer. But aside from that, I had the same thing, except my mother started breaking the spoons off on my keyster.
Oh wow, hit.
Yeah, she broke too many spoons. And so then my folks were having some remodeling done and she had the carpenter cut her out a paddle that fit her hand, and she kept that on top of the refrigerator.
She didn't do the whole drill the holes through it.
Wait wait a second, hold on, Yeah, your mom had a custom paddle made.
Yes, wow, yeah, and that was she named it. That was Peter paddle. And you're not making this up. I'm not making this up. No, your mom leveled up. Wow, yeah she did. But she also, like this guy's mom, she says that she could never hit us more than three times because she felt so horrible about it. So I think my mom was in the same boat where it was. She kind of felt like, I have to do this because this is this is the means of getting the behavior out of you that I that I desire.
And so did you ever have the ghost stand in the corner or sit at the table like or write sentences out?
None of that.
I did that in school, But you know, I do remember. I don't think she even remembers this. There was one time that I was I must have been I don't know, five years old or something. And I remember that she told me I had to sit in the chair for fifteen minutes, and I remember that being the worst fifteen minutes. And it was a comfy chair. It wasn't like I
was sitting in a hard wooden kitchen chair. But just the fact that I couldn't move, I couldn't I wasn't allowed to speak, and I couldn't move for fifteen minutes, that was worse than any spanking. Looking back on it now, I mean, I'm sure I would have chosen the chair nine times out of ten, or probably ten times out of ten back then because the fear of the spanking.
But honestly, that was worse sitting in the chair.
When I was growing up, I got spank my my mother, my father, and both of my grandmothers.
In fact, one time my grandmother broke the yard stick.
Oake me yard stick, amateur. Some kids need it, some kids don't. I was definitely a kid that needs a spanking.
Sounds like they just lined up like the scene from Airplane to spank that one. Mom, Dad, grandma, grandma, everybody bring their own. It's it be my own stick, all right.
And then finally, yeah, Chris, you got me thinking about this. Uh Menindez brothers with this whole spanking or no spanking situation. Now, I'm wondering did they get spanked too much or not enough? What caused them to be these killer freaks?
I don't know. Can you give me some input on that?
Yeah, I mean according to them, it's the sexual abuse is what did it, which is I think worse than spanking. But yeah, that's what That's why there may be a re sentencing hearing. I don't know, but that's what they say. I'm not going to weigh in as to whether or not it's true. I don't have any idea. I wasn't there. Speaking of spankings, there's a Wisconsin judge who's definitely getting a slamp on the wrist. I don't know that she's
going to get a spanking for it. Because this Wisconsin judge was protecting an undocumented immigrant and the undocumented immigrant was in her courtroom when Ice showed up, and she helped usher the undocumented immigrant out of the back door.
I'm not so sure.
Because you've probably seen the protests around this, I'm not so sure this is the hill people want to die of.
According to a federal criminal complaint. Judge Dugan is charged with two counts of obstruction, including concealing a man illegally to prevent his arrest. The thirteen page complaint alleges Dugan helped Eduardo Flores Ruiz, an undocumented immigrant, avoid arrest by ICE agents at the court building on April eighteen.
Uh huh.
Flores Ruiz was before for Judge Dugan for a criminal court appearance after he was accused of domestic battery following an alleged fight with a roommate. The Department of Homeland Security says Flores Ruiz entered the US illegally twice, and agents were outside Judge Dugan's courtroom waiting to arrest him on an administrative warrant. Witnesses told federal investigators that when Dugan learned ICE agents were outside her court she became
visibly angry, calling the situation absurd. The complaint says Judge Dugan then told the arrest team to go to the Chief Judge's office to speak with them about the permissibility of making the arrest inside the courthouse. According to the complaint, Dugan then allegedly escorted Flores Ruiz out of her courtroom through a jury door to a non public area.
Oh she pulled a look over there trick.
Yeah, but these are courthouses. There's got to be security footage of something.
I'm sure.
But even if there's even if there's footage, she still was just trying to delay the actual the practical action of old deal.
Well alleged. I mean, like you said, it's probably footage.
An attorney representing the judge issuing a statement saying, in part, Hannessy Dugan has committed herself to the rule of law and the principles of due process for her entire career as a lawyer and a judge. Judge Dugan will defend herself vigorously and looks forward to being exonerated.
All right, I'm sure she will.
However, we've heard a bunch of stories about people being picked up who don't have any criminal history, about family members being deported, about people who have asylum that are being deported.
We've got two people anyway that have been ordered brought back.
Which of course the administration so far as is planting those orders.
But I don't know that this is the guy.
I mean, the guy's been deported twice and he's in court for beating the hell out of his roommate. I mean, when we talk about immigration and fixing the system and we say let's deport the bad guys and keep the good guys.
Pretty sure somebody has been deported twice.
And then is in court for beating the hell out of their roommate is one of those that you go probably not one of the best and the brightest.
I just don't know that that.
I mean, I understand the rule of law.
I understand the practical the the practical the ideological argument, the theoretical argument, the philosophical argument, all of that. I get it. I get it, But I don't know that this is the one that's gonna that's gonna focus people. I just don't think this is gonna focus people very well. Meanwhile, I feel kind of guilty because a number of people got arrested, and I think it might have been my fault.
I'll tell you why that is. Next.
Chris Merril caf I AM six forty. We're live everywhere on the iHeart Radio app.
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Chris Merril CAFI AM six forty more stimulating talk on demand anytime in the iHeart Radio app, you'll find this show under the featured Segments podcast I appreciate The producer Kaila keeps telling me to remind people of that. Thank you kill You're very nice. Coming up here in the six o'clock hour, there's a story about how views on spanking have shifted globally, but in the United States, the majority of people still support being able to wallop your
kid if you think they need it. So were you spanked as a kid and did you or do you spank yours? Now that's our talkback question. If you're on the kfi ise iHeartRadio app the KFI page on there, you'll see the talkback button. Just click on That allows you to record a message and if it's worth a crap, we might play it on the air.
It's not, well, that's why you didn't hear yourself.
Hey guys, jen X here checking in. Yeah, when I was younger, my mom would get this wooden spoon out and she would spank me with it, and I deserved it, and I'll never forget she busted that spoon in half one time and I just couldn't stop laughing. I thought it was the funniest thing. And then like a week later, she had like this, like a set of of twelve.
All my outstanding really the wooden spoon. Yeah, but they never they never broke one on your highnie though.
Huh No.
But my mom decided to carry the tradition on to my younger brothers, okay, a ten year difference, and one of them did break the wooden spoon. Huh and same reaction. He laughed so hard.
Oh man, that's when your mom went out and got one of those nice stainless steel sets.
No. No, the worst.
Part about the wooden spoon breaking is that mom was mad at me after that until she got another wooden spoon, not because she didn't get to fulfill the rest of the punishment, but because then she didn't have the wooden spoon to cook with, so that she had to use like a different like, you know, the slotted spoon or something she didn't want, So it was kind of a double whammy.
It was not her, Chris, Yeah, my mother withheld the fiber, withheld the fiber. Do you know what that means? No, Kayla, do you know what that means? Is that is that all? He said? No idea, Chris, Yeah, my mother withheld the fiber. Does that mean that his mother made him constipated? That's what I would That's what I would think to the.
Bathroom, I get it right, because fiber makes you, makes you go a lot. So maybe he was staying so hard that the fiber was like did not work.
No, No, that that seems pretty made up. Andrew, I don't know if that makes sense.
I'm trying to reach I'm trying to decipher what he's trying to say.
Love when I love when good comedy you have to kind of connect a two C and you have to sort of fill in the blank.
But I'm not finding the blank in that one. Yeah, sorry, my bad man. His mom didn't starve him. I think that that's that's the most important thing.
Yeah, okay, Yeah, Chris epilogue, the spanking no spanking thing and Menendez and the sexual whole scene and ah god, the whole thing is just so disgusting. But I just want you to think about this particular perspective. Maybe spanking, what's part of this sexual abuse.
Or whatever their claiming.
I mean, you know, in today's world, it's things possible.
Well it was the eighties world and it was still anything was possible.
So I don't know, I don't know. I feel kind of bad.
Did you guys happen to see the story about the day laborers that got picked up? And I feel like this was a suggestion I made a couple of months ago. I said, if you just want to go and find people to deport, just cruise through the home depot parking lot and.
Lo and behold, several cars abandoned at this home depot parking lot in Pomona after a group of day workers were rounded up and taken into custady Tuesday. Fabian Paco was also a day worker.
He says he.
Knows some of the people, but doesn't know where they are now.
Yeah, they're being the same.
I feel kind of bad because I thought, I mean, if you just want to have some easy wins, you want to start patting your numbers a little bit, just zip on through the home depot parking lot.
And sure enough they did. So, Uh, that's my bad. Yeah, you gotta stop giving advice on this show, man.
I know it, I know it. My bad, My bad, Sorry about that. I feel feel kind of horrible about that. All right, we'll do the tariff tango here in just a few moments. And we'll find out if you have a small business, just how badly or how well might you be affected.
That is next.
Chris merril can't f I AM six forty. We're live everywhere on the iHeart Radio app.
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
AM six forty more stimulating talk on demand anytime in the iHeart Radio App.
I'm Chris merrill U.
If you have been to any of the tourist destinations of late, you may have noticed traffic is a little better.
Overseas visitors to the US, excluding Canada and Mexico, we're down twelve percent this March compared to March of twenty twenty four. One country in particular is causing concern for California tourism. Any countries you're not seeing as much of that you used to see.
A lot of yeh, Canadians not seeing a lot of Canadians. And when they do come down here, they got friction, you know, they got a little bit conflicts. Canadians with friction.
Whoo.
Sometimes they don't even say thank you more than once or twice.
Visits from Canadians were down twelve percent in February from twenty twenty four. According to Visit California, vendors we talked to are hoping for an improvement, but not necessarily expecting one. According Latin Karment Diggers and NBC four Naws.
So Canadians are mad.
Not only are they upset about the whole fifty first state thing, but they're all so a little miffed about the tariffs. Remember those tariffs that went into effect early on with Canada, Mexico and China. Those those are still in effect, and in fact, so are the other initial tariffs. It's the the reciprocal to recip tariffs. I know, it feels like exceptional all of a sudden. Joining us right now is Ben Johnston. He is the COO of Capitis, which is a small business lender in marketplace.
Ben, pleasure to have you here.
I think there still is some confusion about the tariffs because there still are.
We do have tariffs on globally.
What are you advising to small businesses right now? This has got to be This has got to be a I don't know, confusing time.
It's a confusing time and it's an expensive time because for a lot of small businesses, tariffs are driving up the cost of goods across all of the products that they're buying and selling. So this means higher cost to purchase equipment used in production, upgrade facilities, purchase inventory. Since a lot of small businesses I've used end up financing these expenses up front, that means higher financing costs for them across the board as well. So we're seeing wholesalers
and retailers really impacted by this. Manufacturers, construct contractors who are importing wood and cement, armers who have to import fertilizer and machinery, Restaurants who need to import fruits and vegetables, seafood, wine, all the stuff that you know makes going out so exciting. And then they're dealing many businesses they're dealing with counter tariffs as well. So small businesses that export goods overseas are dealing with China's counter tariffs that they've put in.
They've imposed retaliatory tariffs of one hundred and twenty five percent on most US items. They've suspended imports on certain agricultural products, and they've imposed export controls on rare interals which our companies are using. So you know, we're seeing a lot of impact on small business across the board, and you know, there are some things that small businesses can do to try to lessen this impact, although you know, I really don't think there's a silver bullet out there
for small businesses. One we like to tell our small businesses if you can look for domestic substitutes. Now. Admittedly, this is pretty hard given how integrated most global supply chains are today, and most manufacturers can't easily find a substitute being manufactured in the US, and even if they can, well everyone's looking for that right now, so you can expect the cost of those US manufactured goods to be going up as well. Another thing we're telling people is
to seek suppliers from lower tariff countries if at all possible. Obviously, China at one hundred and forty five percent tariffs, that's a that's a huge number. Mexico and Canada are somewhat more reasonable for most products that are around twenty five percent, and then the rest of the global economy is resting
around ten percent right now. So there are some opportunities for supply chain arbitrage out there, but it's really tough to make some of those those changes, especially when you're not sure how long those tariffs are going to be in place, and if these are in fact final tariffs.
Ben Johnsin is a hang on, Ben, let me just bring everybody up to speed here. If they're just joining us. Ben Johnson is the chief operating officer as a capitist, and they're a small business lender in a marketplace.
Can they play?
Can people play the game and import from not China by making the you know, the Chinese goods that they need and then having them shipped, say to Singapore first and then come to the United States.
Well, technically that could be possible, but there has to be some material work done in Singapore in your example, before it can be legally renamed, retagged, and brought into the United States. So it's you know, I think people are trying to play that game, and I definitely think people are trying to cheat the system by relabeling things and shipping them to different parts of the world. But if you want to do it legally, that is a much more challenging option.
Ben, you talked about some of the small businesses that are delaying excuse me that you know they're upgrades the materials that they need in order to upgrade their facilities, whether it's a planned whether it's a restaurant, whatever that might be.
Those costs are going up.
Are their businesses you're that you're seeing are slowing expansion as a result of the the I mean there's an increased cost now, but also all that uncertainty.
That's the word.
I mean, that's going to be the word of twenty twenty times, uncertainty, right, I mean, are they delayed?
Are they delaying that?
It's certainly the word of the hour. I think responsible businesses are pausing a lot of their growth plans for the moment and trying to understand what the tariffs are going to be and mean for them long term. They're exploring their supply chains and trying to figure out where
to position their supply chains for the future. But right now, given so much uncertainty around tariffs and interest rates and the state of the global economy, I think a lot of people are putting expansion plans on pause, and they're just trying to retrench and make sure that their core goods that they're selling are profitable and that they can maintain their bottom line as they are today.
Is there anybody, and maybe this is harder for small businesses. Is there anybody that's eating some of the cost on the tariffs? I've heard about early on that you may have some companies that say, well, we'll absorb this to start with, but we can't do that forever. Are you seeing that that? Is that something that can even be done on a small business scale.
I think it all depends on the magnitude of the tariff that's being handled by the small business. I think if the tariff is a ten percent tariff, they can probably eat a portion of that. Really depending on the business's margins. Some businesses a very wide margins, other businesses of very small margins. I do think that businesses are trying to tighten their belts as tightly as they can
to limit what they pass on to their customers. But for someone who's importing from China and has just been hit by one hundred and forty five percent tariff, you know, I don't know about business that imports from China that could withstand that type of tariff and not need to pass it on to their customer base. I just don't think that's realistic.
Ben Johnston is the chief operating officer of Capitists, or a small business lender in a marketplace. Ben, sit tight here. I got to check on traffic and we'll get a news update here in just a moment. But I gotta wonder if if anybody's doing okay right now? In fact, are we actually seeing a tariff bump for some people? And you heard Ben say some places are tightening the belt. What does that look like and what does that mean to your future with your company? That is next Chris
merrilf I AM six forty. We live everywhere on the iHeart Radio app.
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand Chris.
Merrill six forty more stimulating talk on demand anytime in the iHeartRadio app, and our show featured under the featured segments section of the podcast pages or whatever it is at KFI AM six forty dot com. The tariff tango continues on. Some people are trying to figure out their way around it, and they're getting suckered.
Chinese merchants claiming to either manufacture actual designer goods or to repro to make things that are out of the same factories of those are now green, taking to TikTok and saying we've got the stuff you want and you can avoid tariffs by coming straight to us, and we'll send it straight to you. A very appealing offer. There's several problems here. First of all, there's a lot of scams going on here. I mean, these are people who you don't know, merchants you've never dealt with directly, who
are asking you to send them money. That's always a red flag, and that alone should end this conversation.
But yep, that alone should end the conversation.
People are still doing it is we all want to save a few dollars, and this feels like an opportunity for scammers. Ben Johnston is the COO of Capitis, which is a small business lender in a marketplace, and Ben, well, we do have scammers that are out there. One of the things that I'm seeing are actually American companies that are trying to capitalize on this, not the least of which are the auto manufacturers. Ford comes out and says, we do more in the United States than anybody else.
And then they say, and we're offering employee pricing. I just saw an ad for I think it was Jeep that said they're offering something like seven grand off or employee pricing or something.
Of that nature are these car companies.
I mean, they make it sound like they're not hurting at all, but we thought that they were. We thought the car companies were going to get hurt as much or more than most anywhere else.
Well, I think they'll be hurt if some of the threatened tariffs between Canada, Mexico and the United States are truly implemented. For the automakers, I think the automakers recently got a reprieve from some of those announced tariffs, least for a period of time. And while tariffs therefore have gone up on the rest of the world by ten percent and that would limit imports from Japan or from Europe, that certainly is going to help out the Big three
in the United States. But you know, it's a matter of what will happen next in terms of how tariffs impact the automakers.
Here, I see that a couple of companies from China, Shean and Timu, are both staying their prices are going up because of the tariffs. That, however, I would say, is an argument for the administration that well, their prices are going up, which means that that's going to be good for American companies, right. I mean, could you make the argument that some of these American companies that were being undercut by the cheap manufacturers overseas now have a more level playing field.
Absolutely, I mean, I think this could be a if there are if there are manufacturers in the United States who are directly competing against manufacturers in China, that could be a boon for any US manufacturer who is manufacturing for a domestic audience. Okay, The problem is a lot of US manufacturers actually import their raw materials and their component parts that they then assemble and put the finishing
touches on in the United States before selling. And if their raw materials are going up dramatically, you know, that's almost having the same impact on them as being a wholesaleer bringing that those goods into the US.
What does it look like, Ben, you mentioned that some places are tightening the belt right now. They're being cautious because of the uncertainty that we have in the environment right now. So what does that look like tightening the belt? Does that mean layoffs? Does that mean? I mean we talked about delaying some upgrades or expansion might be delayed for a while, But I mean, were we talking about the potential for jobs being at risk here.
I certainly think jobs are at risk in the long run if we stay on the current path. One thing I would say is that we haven't seen a real pullback in the economic numbers as of yet.
Now.
Most of these tariffs have only been in for less than a month right now, and so I think there's a wait and see going on to see how the tariffs are truly impacting the bottom line and how consumer spending reacts to all of this. At the moment, you know, we haven't seen CPI numbers spike yet, but I think we're all waiting to see what the April numbers look like when they're published in early May, to see if we start to see some spike in the overall cost
of goods and a pullback from the American consumer. If we see those things, I definitely expect businesses to start belt tightening. Maybe that doesn't mean layoffs immediately, but if a contraction continues to progress throughout the year, for sure we're going to start seeing layoffs.
Ben Johnson is the chief operating officer at Capitist of small business lender in a marketplace.
What does this do for somebody like you?
I mean your whole You lend money to small businesses in one to expand this is going to be tricky for you to navigate.
It is tricky for us. Fortunately, we have a stable and strong group of small businesses who have been through cycles in the past and are doing the prudent thing and doing the math that we're talking about doing right now, and we want to be there to support them now. No matter what happens. Small business owners are incredibly creative and incredibly flexible, and whenever there is a challenge posed, they are the first ones to find a creative solution
and a way to work through the issue. And it's going to be our job to be there for them, hopefully to help finance what may be a large repatriation and manufacturing back to the United States. So in the coming years, certainly that type of work is going to create a need for tremendous capital and the small business community, and we want to be there to support them. But certainly we have to keep an eye on the numbers, as does everyone else.
Who's going to do those jobs. Are we doing all robots now?
That is an excellent question, you know, especially given the curtail and of immigration simultaneous to these tariff changes. You know, it's hard to imagine bringing back millions of jobs to the United States when you have an unemployment rate of four percent and doing it without automation. So I think automation has to be core to the success of the future of the US manufacturing space. But certainly it will also bring jobs back to the United States.
Yeah.
I think those all those geeks from the robotics club in high school are going to have all the jobs in the future. They're going to be the ones in charge of making sure the manufacturing plans run.
That should be the that's the future, man.
They've been in high demand for years now, and I don't see that slowing down.
Even higher now.
Ben Johnson, the chief operating officer of Capitist Ben Pleasure talking with you, man. I hope, I hope you get a chance to do it again. We're gonna keep you in the rollodex, my man.
Thank you very much.
Real enjoyed it, yep, thank you? All right?
All right, geeks, hear that, Raoul, all those guys that that used to stuff me in the locker, all those geeks in high school that used to give me the wedgies, and whatnot because I was actually below them on the totem pole.
You know, you had, you had the jocks, the geeks, and then me.
They're gonna be running the world, man, just like their mother's always told them.
All right in just a moment. There's no business like show business. Great heads. Kim six forty. We live everywhere in the iHeartRadio
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