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Yeah, yeah, so I came out yesterday of federal jury verdict on ticket master. It was found to have overcharged consumers by $1.72 per ticket. $1.72 is barely enough to get you front row seats at a nickel back concert. Do you mean $1.72? Yeah, the jury found that this monopoly resulted in a specific overcharge of a $1.72 ticket,
which will be used to calculate damages and then they'll go from there. And it's been the complaint by artists for the longest time.
“You know, I mentioned that early in her career, Lady Gaga, her dad said,”
"After her first successful tour, she took every dime she made from that tour."
And she was doing her next tour was going to be a showcase for live nation, which is owned by which is the owner of ticket master. And so that was going to be a big deal. In other words, that she would have that kind of basically access to ticket buyers. And so that was a big deal.
But many artists have talked about how they don't like the practice of ticket master. They don't think it's fair. There's some comedians who will sell tickets only through their websites. They don't have the audience that some of the major artists, the music artists do, but still they want to control what's going on with their ticket prices.
And so they'll do that. And sell them only through the website, but ticket master is pretty much ruled for as long as I can remember.
But you're making it technologies making it easier. I think to bypass ticket master. Well, you talked about the aftermarket ticket companies where you can buy... No, no, no, just for concerts in general. Because especially when you look at it, there are so many 1,000 to probably 1,000, 7,000 seat theaters now that exist all over the country.
Oh, sure. But the country that are bringing in 70s and 80s bands on a consistent basis. They're all selling their own tickets. Yeah, yeah. I don't know if Brian Regan is still doing it.
“But I think I know there are comedians that do that where you basically go to their website.”
And you buy those for those theater performances. And which I think they should be doing. But these are the artists doing it. These are the theaters doing it now. I just am amazed in different cities that I go to how many of these 1,000 to 1,700 seat, maybe 2,000 seat theaters. There may be some little higher little lower.
But how many of them exist and how many of them. It's the venue that sells the tickets now. Right. Right. That can also be the case. It depends on the artists.
Because artists can come in and make a deal with the theater and then sell them to their website. It depends on the level of control that that artists wants to maintain. But on that large scale when you look at large tours. The first of all. I don't know the future of large tours.
The COVID years really took a toll on it. But also the reassessing the costs of large tours. You see these acts that are pretty much closing it up. You know, these acts that have been around for a long time. Don't see a benefit of doing a big global tour anymore.
Taylor Swift is not among them. She can still do a global tour and break it in. But the cost of those tours is huge. But the complaint by artists. The complaints by artists.
About a ticket master. And those practices they because.
The bigger complaints are for those after market companies that sell them.
That where it's, you know, you go in and you buy a ticket that someone else owns and already purchased.
“Likely through ticket master sometimes through ticket master.”
And then they up sell that or down sell it at the last minute. Sometimes those tickets become cheaper if they can't sell them. They got to convert to cash at whatever rate they can get. But the artists have a great concern about. The control over it.
It reminds me going back to and in the day to the situation with Led Zeppelin who finally told promoters.
No, no, no, no. Where are the artists? We get 70% of the door. You get 30. Not the other way around.
And that kind of changed the the tone. But the jury found that ticket master basically engaged in as. A monopoly. And pretty much shutting out their. Their competitors.
And and had the upper hand here. I don't know what's to be done about that going forward. But we'll see. I guess. Hey there.
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Just not everything. A forward anything. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. I was you you mentioned about the cost of touring. I saw winter review.
What's the name? Not is it Shirley Manson from garbage. Yeah, which big sand. Yeah. She and then then two other bands about that popularity.
Yeah. Which means they can go and fill 2000 seats. Right. Yeah. It's not worth touring for more than five.
Five nights. Right. You know to tour buses for two weeks. $65,000. Yeah.
And they talked about the fact that now it's cheaper. And I know a number of bands from the 90s. They don't go on six month tours. No. They will play weekends.
Which means they fly. They fly in a day before. A couple of hotels. They fly back. Yep.
I guess my question is.
“A lot of them, you know, a lot of these venues now have their own sound systems.”
You don't need to bring. Yeah. You have to bring. Yeah. You have a house.
Right. You have the house set up now. And so they're like tours are done. We don't, you know, it's. And even if the artist has a writer that requires them.
I don't know. One level of artists have writers anymore. But if they have a writer requiring certain equipment. That the venue can rent that equipment if needed. Yeah.
They don't have it in house. They're guitars and probably got to bring their drums and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. But.
And so I just thought there was really no they said nope. They said the costs. One sure off for a couple of days. The cost just multiply like crazy. No.
And it's insane. When you look at it. And my neighbor has been a guitar check for. Metallica, Bruce Springsteen. James Taylor.
And. And the list goes on. Very good at what he does. But if you look at the costs.
That multiply for first of all.
You've got to have catering for everybody. You've got to feed everybody on the crew. Everybody. That's all of the lighting crew. All of the sound crew.
The entire band and guests. And you've got to feed them multiple times per day. That alone. The catering costs are unbelievable. And and I started seeing it about.
And I started paying attention to it. And and before it got so expensive to tour. This baby was back 15 years ago. And it's my my buddy who plays for. You know, plays guitar for.
Peter noon and Herman's Hermits. Yeah. From the 60's. Right. Well, you see, they're out.
I mean, social me. It looks like they're on tour constantly. Well, they are. But they're not in a tour bus. Right.
Everybody flies out. Different cities. Do they. They do a show on a Friday Saturday. Maybe a third day.
But in the same general area. And then back home again. And then we can have later. Do it again. Right.
Back home. We could do it. It's much cheaper to do with that way. Right. And they're not on the road.
Right. And you can get a residency in Vegas. That's a thing. Yeah. It's.
It's not what it used to be. Because the traffic in Vegas isn't what it used to be. At the sphere my my neighbor I just mentioned was working for the van Chicago. They had a three week stent at the sphere.
We had an interesting conversation about how you have to set up because of th...
The amps and everything are hidden and they're, you know, it's just it's it's it's an incredible endeavor and in order to get it done. But if you get a residency, the Eagles have been playing the sphere. It seems like forever. But it's been it's been a while now. And there's talked that the band may be, you know, hanging it up for good, not too long from now, I guess we'll see.
But if you get a residency, all of those costs are taken on by whoever is sponsoring the residency. So yeah, but those are massive bands, the majority of bands. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, no. It's it has to be. You can't earn a residency without getting that kind of traffic.
I was reading a story of the day the sphere can't make money. They don't know how it's going to survive. Yeah, well, the sphere doesn't have what the other resorts have.
And that's the problem is that.
If you base it on if it's based on a visual because one of the problems they have is they have other. Visual shows at the sphere aside from the concert that's going to be that evening. And they have to do tear downs and rear-ranging things and and it's just a mess. That is their biggest problem.
“I think the cost of staffing and engineering.”
Something like that if you're not going to get because if you look at the other resorts. If you have and when you did have a greater level level of gambling and Vegas that you just don't have anymore. That was your payoff. That people would come out there. They would stay at your resort.
They would get tickets to the show. And they would also while they were there. Gamble their life savings away. And that would pay for everything. You know, David Copperfield.
And others have made comedians make a bank in Vegas because there isn't the same kind of setup. You don't have to, you know, for a band like Chicago or the Eagles or, you know, these are bands that require, you know, quite a bit. And terms of their instruments and and everything else to to be on stage. They have numerous members of the band. I think there's 22 members of Chicago.
I don't know. But they're, but, you know, they're, it's not a swell. Well, you.
You look and I've always sits in the back of my mind how long can transiburian orchestra afford to have reasonable ticket prices with the crews that they have.
Right. Now they only do it for a short time. Well, and, and where they, where they can't where they have the, the leverage is having two different troops. Right. They're, they're played right.
They're playing all that right. And so companies that are playing right. Because you're limited in the season. It is a seasonal thing.
“So you have to get to all of those places, but if you, if you have two, two different troops, but still.”
Each troop. Given the crew that it requires. It's, well, my neighbor told me. I, we were talking about he wanted to know some stuff about regulation for big rigs. And he was on tour with James Taylor at the time.
And then I said, how many big rigs do you have for James Taylor? He said eight and I said eight for an acoustic guitar in a stool. And, you know, he laughed at that. But no, he, James Taylor has, of course, you know, a large set up. These bands have transible in orchestra.
If you've seen them, it's a huge visual presentation. Musical presentation. There are multiple members of each troop. And so you have a crew that has a support crew that is, that is part of that. That becomes expensive.
You know, who I saw in a podcast, who's really making a lot of coin. You know, caratop and his residence, that he had for such a long time. You know, I didn't know he had a, I didn't know he had a love hate relationship with Gallagher. Yeah. The late Gallagher.
Right. Gallagher, you know, liked him. Then hated him.
He always wanted, he talked about him wanting Gallagher's approval and Gallagher's.
You're still in my show. Yeah. Right. Because don't I'm not. I'm just doing my own, but you know, you know, he's, but you know, it gets him through.
You know, all that, that he said, George, he met George Carlin. Yeah. He was like, oh, man. Yeah.
“Carlin, what's Carlin going to think of my show in Carlin went?”
Right. I think he do a great show. Right. It was great. Yeah.
He's actually, he's got a lot of respect by communities. There's the, the prop comics. He was kind of the, the poster child of prop comics or a while. He was a nickel back of rock. Exactly.
But he has absolutely been able to capitalize on that. In Vegas. And he lives there. He says, friends will come in town to see a show.
Let's go out and he's like, I'm going home.
I don't want to go home. I don't want to go home. Not young anymore. I want to go home. Seems like an interesting guy.
Yeah. He's a very smart. Yeah. That's one of the great things about the podcast. Yeah.
Out there today that I see in YouTube. You see these entertainers. And you get to the business side of them. You and I could care less about.
I've never cared about the hype side.
Right. I care about how to get here and how to do that. Right. Rick Biotto's podcast. Yeah.
Yeah. Even Billy Corgan's from the smashing pumpkins. He's got a great. You got it. Now, sometimes he could send to the minution.
It's like, all right. Could you just, don't go so far out. Billy. But hiking with Kevin Neillon is one that I've been watching. I just can't get into that.
You know, it's some of them. The interview subject is not, you know, in my wheelhouse. But he did one with. I was very funny. So I, and I think Kevin Neillon's fun.
I think he's hilarious. So, but yeah, you get to spend a minute with those people and understand. All right. What was the motivation? How did it work?
What worked? What didn't work?
“But I think people's biggest reaction to the ticket master.”
Law suit. Yeah. Because when I saw it, I went.
They're finally getting them for the service charges.
That's about $172. That's about $172. That's about $172. That's about $172. That's about $172.
That's about $172. That's going to be the biggest reaction. That's all they're saying. They're overcharged. Right.
Right. Exactly. We are run. I radio. Brought to you by FPPF, fuel power max.
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To show that the administration is worried about prices with the midterms around the corner. Here's Scott Besson yesterday. The treasury secretary. Ready? Okay.
I couldn't believe it. He really didn't say that, did he? Here we go. I want to encourage everyone out there watching today to change their withholding. If they haven't already done so.
Because if you change your withholding then you will get an automatic real wage increase. The on a weekly or a monthly basis. And oh, at the end of the year. Tax time. You're just next year.
Exactly. I do that already. I've got to read just mine a little bit here because I don't want to kick it with the quarterly fine next year because of some changes that happen to me. I'm going to have to up what I pay the IRS.
I don't owe them more at the end of the year. And get that little fine that they throw. Yeah. What is the little penalty they throw your way? I pay what I call my big beautiful tax bill every year.
And, you know, that's kind of how I look at it. But I do this. Hey, go in and change your deductions. And you'll take home more money. Yeah.
And then be hit with a much bigger tax bill next year. Or money you have to pay back. The tax bill will be the same. Yeah. Right.
Well, but I mean is paying in. And that essentially is a build.
“You have to come up with the money to pay that when you don't right now.”
If you've got your deductions set properly. You pay the whole idea. Right. There is no free money here. Yeah.
It's not your squeezing the water balloon. The water's just going to the other end. [ Music ]
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You're listening to Red Eye Radio from the Ridley Factor Studios. [ Music ] And he's there currently and I'm Gary McNamara. Well, it seemed like a hoaxle and Mimdani. I mean, they went through a maze and went through a, it was like doing a puzzle trying to figure out how to raise taxes in New York City.
And they think they found a way. And by the way, they tried to do this twice before.
“It was, I think it was like 2012 or 2016 or 2014 or 2018.”
I know they've done it twice before. And it didn't go through.
But what they decided it was go after homes of a worth five million or more.
Okay. That are second homes for people that don't live in New York City. Okay. Because you know, those can't be sold. Oh, the real estate people are like, what?
They're like, sorry, you're not going to win this one. They found what they needed. Yeah.
“You know, it's sort of like the, it's sort of like, we want to build a stadium.”
So we're going to skyrocket the hotel and rental car tax. Right. It's like, well, that means fewer people will come to your city. That's right. Your prices keep going up and up and up and up.
I mean, academics has repercussions. Yep. And so the, but the real estate, they said, sorry, not going to win this one. They were caught totally off guard by it. According to, I, I forgot, I forgot where I read that.
There's like they were caught totally off guard by it. I don't know if it's Wall Street Journal or whatever. But they get to tax the wealthy. And it's like, yeah, well, the wealthy.
Then if they're only there a part time, it's going to buy a home for three million.
Right. They're going to sell them to people who wish to live their, uh, to live their full time. Right. Exactly.
“And they also talked about the fact that one of the reason I'm a pasted before is because of the paperwork you have to do to figure out who's living their full time or not.”
Oh, yeah. It, it basically becomes an audit. As reading that, that the audit, the, the central appraisal districts have to audit to see if this is your full time home. Is this your home stead or not. And, uh,
You're going to have to, you would basically have to. I guess that if you're claiming it's your home stead, which would exempt you from this new tax, then you would have to prove that. Uh, and since it was tax day yesterday, um, number of articles are growing state tax and jobs divide, uh, I want to lead out of tutorials in the Wall Street Journal yesterday. Eight states, Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming have no income tax.
On the other end of the spectrum, New York, 14.8% Oregon, 13.9, California, 13.3, Hawaii, 11% Minnesota, 10.8% New Jersey, 10.7% Massachusetts, 9% Washington, 9% Vermont, 8.75% all have top state and local tax rates. But are double those of most states, uh, Maine and Rhode Island are poised to join them since their democratic governors recently endorsed. Search charges on millionaires that would raise their top tax rates to 9.15% and 8.99%.
The problem is democratic run states are running into their aren't enough rich to fund their promises to public unions and their spending appetites.
Democrats and, uh, invariably dig into the pockets of the middle class and small businesses, Minnesota's 9.85% rate. Now hits at 203,000 Vermont hits at 249,000 New York City residents 9.9% on income over $80,000. 10.7% above 215,000 individuals who make more than 225,000 in Hawaii pay 9%, 9% marginal rate. California, their 9.3% tax bracket starts at 72,000, which is less than the median income in the state for single earner of 76,000.
This is where the whole thing is that when you see who's really taking the bi...
It's the states, the democratic states are the ones that are hitting the middle class in those states.
“Or an $90,000 could say $4,200 in income tax a year by moving to Nevada or Texas or 2400 by relocating to Arizona.”
There's in Portland's Multnomacown, he approved search, uh, cert taxes on top of the states 9.9% rate, which hits at 125,000 for individuals. Can I tell you this? Because I lived in Portland, yeah. And when I lived in Portland, uh, you know, when when they, well, I can say this because we're on in KXL now, when I got fired there. Right, and I was offered a job here. The job offer here paid, and this goes back 26 years ago paid less than what I was making there. And I didn't have to jump, I mean, because I was even though I wasn't working there, I had offers to work outside a radio.
But because of the no income tax here, I actually made more of the first year here than I did when I was making there.
Right. Yep. Yeah. That's the big attraction. People in Portland play a top tax rate of 12.4% I didn't come over 125,000, 13.9% over 250,000 since 2020 homelessness has increased while employment has declined as that tax rate was to fund homeless housing and universal preschool. That worked out well. During the pandemic, many professionals in high tax states relocated to places lower taxes and cost of living less crime and public disorder.
At the same time, extended lockdowns by Democrat run states for small businesses to shut down.
“And you know, and that's why, you know, when you see those tax rates, that's why they can't do.”
We've talked about it before and I had this discussion with those folks that I met this weekend.
Because they're talking about, you know, you think universal healthcare should be there and they said, yes, I said, well, California could have done what they didn't do it. Right. Colorado could have done what they didn't do it. Vermont was going to do what they didn't do it. And of course, they had no idea what I was talking about when I said, don't know they were going to do it, but they decided not to do it, why not?
They didn't want to pay the freight. It's a Democrats only want to do nationalized healthcare when they can have future generations pay for it.
“When they can have other people or their children and grandchildren pay for it.”
Otherwise, you'd have it. You can have, you can have government run free healthcare in any state. You can do it. Oh, they could pay for it. Right.
Now, it's going to cost you. Well, that's, but it's going to cost everybody. And I just got the blank look back. I just kept that in the feed them shots. This is the, this is the problem, again, that over and over these blue states have that is changing the tide really.
Go ahead, keep going after people. The rich can afford to move, but at some point the lower and middle class won't be able to afford to stay. Look at Delaware. That's from newsmax.com, a tsunami of corporate departures continues to hit Delaware. As more than 60 public companies with a combined market cap of over three, three trillion dollars have quit the state in the past two years alone.
And just the past week, two significant public companies first cash holdings and GBC. I ink have announced plans to leave Delaware underscoring with many analysts now described as a corporate exodus.
First cash holdings, a nine billion dollar market cap company file plans with shareholders to re-incorporate where taxes.
The move the company said is driven by a desire for more clarity and predictability in legal matters. Delaware had that problem right, was in Delaware the Elon Musk thing. Yeah, yeah, along with efforts to reduce opera, a tonistic and frivolous litigation. Well, so when you talk about that unpredictable nature of regulation, you can apply that not just to Delaware, but New York, California.
When they start talking when the lawmakers and governors start talking like, ...
Have a decision to make because that conversation is not going away.
They're getting closer and closer and in some cases already enacting such policy and there is, there's no turning around from that. And when these corporations leave, they're not coming back because in our lifetime, we're not going to see this big red wave in these blue states, it's not going to happen. So they're not coming back, which means again, the death of these financially economically of these states will continue. Let's tell you that when I was in the back and Buffalo this past weekend, big concern, they're losing population in western New York, and I just saw an article yesterday.
Politicians, you know, what, what, you know, trying to figure out what can they do to bring people back, I just burst out laughing. It was like when Gavin Newsome back when he was, what was he lieutenant governor at the time when he said, we're going to take a trip to Texas. And swall wells coming with me to show me a good time. Yeah. We're introducing me to somebody's friends.
“We're going to go to Texas to find out how Texas is able to keep growing and bring these companies in and that was 15 years ago, right?”
We're just like stopping stupid.
You don't need to go anywhere to figure it out.
Simple math. It's very simple math. And that's the thing I got from the story that I read about western New York was, we're trying to figure out what is the complicated algorithm that these other states have figured out. I mean, what is this maze that they have gone through to figure out, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's choices made by the people of those states who put in people who do nothing but punish companies and taxpayers.
Period. And it's not going to change in all I've time. We're not going to see this big red wave in these blue states. So it will continue. The Democrats aren't going to change what they're doing. They're doing more of it.
And time and time again. Hokal.
My millionaire friends that have moved to Florida.
Well, are you kidding me? As they're not coming back and the political landscape of New York state and New York City is not going to change. And our lifetime. Yeah, we, they think it's complicated. It's not Milton Friedman of the Senate.
The geniuses at Red Eye Radio have said it. University of Rochester professor economics professor Steven Lansberg has said it. What is economics and how do you succeed at it?
“If you're state or whatever, what's the complicated formula?”
If Steven Lansberg said I'll use his quote, people respond to incentives and of quote. Anything else is opinion. Yep. That's it. That's it.
That's it. Take away those incentives. People are gone. Okay. I guess he said the rest is commentary.
Hmm. Same thing. Yeah, sure. People respond to incentives. They just talk.
That's it. Yep. Not complicated. Nope. We are Red Eye Radio.
“We'll be right back with more Red Eye Radio with every currently and Gary McNamara.”
We are Red Eye Radio. He's our currently and I'm Gary McNamara. You know when we were talking about Ticketmaster earlier and I mentioned that I was back to you know to Western New York last week. Hmm. Well, the hockey playoff started and the Buffalo Sabers have made the playoffs.
There's these people who saw this news story. People waiting outside the arena to get tickets. And there's screaming where we can't get tickets. It's like the team announced everything's online. Yeah.
I'll go to the ticket office. Right. But we want to pay cash and in person and get the paper tickets. Sorry, you're in 2026 now. Yeah.
It doesn't work that way. Time to come into the 90s folks.
The new stations are out there.
I'm roaring just with laughter.
What do you mean? I can't bring in my own snacks. That's funny.
“I paid good money for this bag of chicken.”
When I was young, when I used to go to hockey games. Not as my witness to show you how old I am. Hmm. When I used to go to hockey games. Uh, and this was professional hockey games before the Sabers came along.
When it was a Buffalo Spiesons. Hmm.
It's going with my uncle Norm.
The, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the back glass. Yeah. You know, above the, on, on each on zone. Right. Was actually a chainling fence.
Oh, wow. Really. It wasn't, yeah, it wasn't boy. It wasn't like the glass. Right.
You can see through. Right.
It was a chainling fence.
Yeah. And I don't sound old, but. Wow. That's crazy. I know.
That's it. (laughs) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) This, see his red eye, radio.
On Westwood One. Hi, I'm Joe's all-see-hi. Host of the stacking bedrooms podcast. Most economists.
“Agreed, small amount of inflation is actually good.”
2% is what you're going for. The, why is everybody freaking out? Oh, because it's the fallout. People don't track their budget. You have this slow slipping that happens every month.
Tall, sudden you go, man. I don't have any money. The reason is now two people go to a restaurant. The bill is 60 bucks. For two.
Two guys walking to a restaurant. They start screaming. That's hilarious. 60 dollars. Stacking Benjamin's.
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