1 00:00:15,356 --> 00:00:24,436 Speaker 1: Pushkin. Every writer lives in fear of one thing, that 2 00:00:24,596 --> 00:00:27,956 Speaker 1: what they say won't matter. You toil away in obscurity. 3 00:00:28,436 --> 00:00:31,036 Speaker 1: You scrub your prose until it's shiny and perfect. You 4 00:00:31,156 --> 00:00:33,316 Speaker 1: put your work out for the world to see, and 5 00:00:33,356 --> 00:00:35,636 Speaker 1: in the back of your mind is always a thought 6 00:00:35,876 --> 00:00:38,476 Speaker 1: that all that effort will sink quietly into the sea, 7 00:00:39,476 --> 00:00:43,556 Speaker 1: like a corpse witted down with concrete shoes. Have I 8 00:00:43,636 --> 00:00:47,036 Speaker 1: had this fear? Oh? Yes, worse. I've seen it happen 9 00:00:47,076 --> 00:00:49,396 Speaker 1: to me again and again. It was a time in 10 00:00:49,396 --> 00:00:52,036 Speaker 1: my life when I was obsessed with the relative age effect, 11 00:00:52,436 --> 00:00:55,956 Speaker 1: wrote about it, did episodes about it on this very podcast. 12 00:00:57,316 --> 00:00:59,236 Speaker 1: You look at a room full of third graders or 13 00:00:59,276 --> 00:01:02,276 Speaker 1: fifth graders and you say, Tommy is a poor student, 14 00:01:02,876 --> 00:01:05,716 Speaker 1: Alice is a good one. But what if Alice was 15 00:01:05,756 --> 00:01:08,516 Speaker 1: born in January and Tommy was born in December, And 16 00:01:08,556 --> 00:01:12,076 Speaker 1: what looks like superior ability on Alice's part is actually 17 00:01:12,116 --> 00:01:14,356 Speaker 1: just the fact that she's a year older than Tommy, 18 00:01:15,156 --> 00:01:17,476 Speaker 1: and the year's extra maturity at the age of eight 19 00:01:17,876 --> 00:01:22,036 Speaker 1: is a really, really big deal. I made this argument 20 00:01:22,156 --> 00:01:24,876 Speaker 1: until I was horse And what did I want? I 21 00:01:24,916 --> 00:01:28,196 Speaker 1: wanted elementary and middle schools to devedop their students by 22 00:01:28,196 --> 00:01:30,916 Speaker 1: birth month, so the oldest kids would be in one 23 00:01:30,916 --> 00:01:33,276 Speaker 1: class and those born in the middle months would be 24 00:01:33,316 --> 00:01:36,036 Speaker 1: in another class, and the youngest kids would be in 25 00:01:36,076 --> 00:01:39,836 Speaker 1: a class by themselves, and the playing field could be leveled. 26 00:01:41,116 --> 00:01:44,556 Speaker 1: Did any school superintendent ever call me up and say, 27 00:01:44,596 --> 00:01:47,796 Speaker 1: I love your idea. I've reorganized my kids by birth month. 28 00:01:48,436 --> 00:01:48,516 Speaker 2: No. 29 00:01:49,556 --> 00:01:49,796 Speaker 3: Never. 30 00:01:50,476 --> 00:01:53,236 Speaker 1: My own daughter is going to kindergarten this fall, and 31 00:01:53,356 --> 00:01:56,116 Speaker 1: some part of me wanted to ask her principal, can 32 00:01:56,196 --> 00:01:57,956 Speaker 1: she be in a class with all the other kids 33 00:01:57,996 --> 00:02:00,796 Speaker 1: born at the same time as her? But I didn't. 34 00:02:01,516 --> 00:02:06,036 Speaker 1: And you know why, because I'm demoralized. Because this fixation 35 00:02:06,156 --> 00:02:10,036 Speaker 1: of mine, this beautiful, radical, provocative idea that I put 36 00:02:10,076 --> 00:02:14,236 Speaker 1: out into the world, sank quietly into the sea like 37 00:02:14,276 --> 00:02:18,916 Speaker 1: a waited corpse. I had all but given up until, 38 00:02:19,716 --> 00:02:25,436 Speaker 1: like an angel descending from heaven, became adrenarian Los Angeles 39 00:02:25,516 --> 00:02:33,996 Speaker 1: City Council member and revisionist history listener. Thank you for doing. 40 00:02:33,796 --> 00:02:36,236 Speaker 4: This, Thank you for inviting me. 41 00:02:36,356 --> 00:02:41,036 Speaker 1: No no, so I was delighted to hear that you 42 00:02:41,076 --> 00:02:46,836 Speaker 1: are the author, the instigator of a proposal to be 43 00:02:46,876 --> 00:02:50,516 Speaker 1: put before the voters of Los Angeles. 44 00:02:50,996 --> 00:02:52,196 Speaker 4: Well, you were the instigate. 45 00:02:53,796 --> 00:02:57,876 Speaker 1: Well, I you know, I'm I was a provocateur. I 46 00:02:57,956 --> 00:03:01,436 Speaker 1: just I just raise issues. Others have to make them 47 00:03:01,436 --> 00:03:04,196 Speaker 1: actually happen. So I could you tell me straight? How 48 00:03:04,276 --> 00:03:08,596 Speaker 1: did you did you? How did you come across my podcast? 49 00:03:09,396 --> 00:03:12,196 Speaker 4: So one of my staff members brought this to my 50 00:03:12,236 --> 00:03:14,556 Speaker 4: attention and said, you got to hear. 51 00:03:14,396 --> 00:03:19,276 Speaker 1: This, council member, you got to hear this. And did 52 00:03:19,316 --> 00:03:20,596 Speaker 1: he hear this? Oh? 53 00:03:20,636 --> 00:03:21,196 Speaker 5: Yes he did. 54 00:03:23,596 --> 00:03:26,516 Speaker 1: My name is Malcolm Glabwell. You're listening to Revisionist History, 55 00:03:26,636 --> 00:03:31,116 Speaker 1: my podcast about things overlooked and misunderstood. Later this week, 56 00:03:31,356 --> 00:03:33,676 Speaker 1: we're going to be dropping the first of our epic 57 00:03:33,796 --> 00:03:39,196 Speaker 1: five episode blockbuster, The Staten Island Problem. But before we do, 58 00:03:39,596 --> 00:03:42,956 Speaker 1: as a little amuse bouosh, we're going to revisit one 59 00:03:42,956 --> 00:03:46,116 Speaker 1: of my all time favorite episodes in the Revisionist History 60 00:03:46,156 --> 00:03:51,836 Speaker 1: canon from ten years ago, A Good Walk Spoiled. I'm 61 00:03:51,836 --> 00:03:53,636 Speaker 1: going to play it for you now in case you 62 00:03:53,676 --> 00:03:56,036 Speaker 1: need a little refresher, and then I'm going to come 63 00:03:56,076 --> 00:03:59,596 Speaker 1: back at the end and tell you how finally, a 64 00:03:59,756 --> 00:04:09,836 Speaker 1: decade into Revisionist History, somebody listened. A friend who lives 65 00:04:09,836 --> 00:04:12,716 Speaker 1: in Brentwood on the West side of Los Angeles between 66 00:04:12,756 --> 00:04:15,956 Speaker 1: Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. He has a little pool 67 00:04:15,956 --> 00:04:18,636 Speaker 1: house in his backyard and I stay there whenever I 68 00:04:18,676 --> 00:04:21,836 Speaker 1: come to LA, kind of like Cato Kalon if your 69 00:04:21,836 --> 00:04:27,876 Speaker 1: memory for O. J. Simpson Esoterica goes back that far. Anyway, 70 00:04:28,436 --> 00:04:32,116 Speaker 1: my friend's street dead ends on San Vicente Boulevard, one 71 00:04:32,156 --> 00:04:35,836 Speaker 1: of the central east west corridors in LA. And on 72 00:04:35,876 --> 00:04:39,276 Speaker 1: the other side of San Vicente is this absolutely gorgeous 73 00:04:39,276 --> 00:04:41,836 Speaker 1: golf course, one of the many private country clubs that 74 00:04:41,996 --> 00:04:45,596 Speaker 1: LA is famous for. If you drive down Wilshire Boulevard 75 00:04:45,596 --> 00:04:48,956 Speaker 1: into Beverly Hills, ten minutes east of Brentwood, you go 76 00:04:49,036 --> 00:04:52,316 Speaker 1: right past Los Angeles Country Club, which costs maybe a 77 00:04:52,436 --> 00:04:55,396 Speaker 1: quarter of a million dollars just to join, that is, 78 00:04:55,436 --> 00:05:00,636 Speaker 1: if they'll even consider your application. There's bell Air Country 79 00:05:00,636 --> 00:05:03,556 Speaker 1: Club just north of Ucla, which might be the most 80 00:05:03,556 --> 00:05:08,036 Speaker 1: beautiful golf course in the country, Hillcrest offf Pico, Wilshire 81 00:05:08,076 --> 00:05:12,156 Speaker 1: country Club, and Hancock. I could go on. They're everywhere, vast, 82 00:05:12,676 --> 00:05:18,556 Speaker 1: gorgeous and private. The one near my friend's house is 83 00:05:18,556 --> 00:05:21,596 Speaker 1: called Brentwood country Club, and it has a tall chain 84 00:05:21,636 --> 00:05:24,476 Speaker 1: link fence around it which goes almost all the way 85 00:05:24,516 --> 00:05:28,116 Speaker 1: out to the street, leaving just this narrow, rocky dirt track. 86 00:05:28,636 --> 00:05:31,276 Speaker 1: There's no sidewalk, and since there aren't a lot of 87 00:05:31,276 --> 00:05:34,196 Speaker 1: places to run in Los Angeles, tons of people run 88 00:05:34,236 --> 00:05:36,996 Speaker 1: around the Brentwood country Club on that narrow dirt track. 89 00:05:42,596 --> 00:05:44,876 Speaker 1: And there's one thing that always bothers me every time 90 00:05:44,876 --> 00:05:47,476 Speaker 1: I run that route. Why do all the runners of 91 00:05:47,476 --> 00:05:51,076 Speaker 1: West Los Angeles have to squeeze into this narrow, rocky 92 00:05:51,116 --> 00:05:54,756 Speaker 1: little track when there's a huge, magnificent park just on 93 00:05:54,796 --> 00:06:00,796 Speaker 1: the other side of the fence. My name is Malcolm Gladwell, 94 00:06:00,996 --> 00:06:04,916 Speaker 1: and you're listening to Revisionist History, my podcast about things 95 00:06:05,036 --> 00:06:14,436 Speaker 1: Overlooked and Misunderstood. This episode is about the problem with golf. 96 00:06:15,596 --> 00:06:18,756 Speaker 1: I hate golf and hopefully by the end of this 97 00:06:19,476 --> 00:06:29,756 Speaker 1: you'll hate golf too. I'm standing here would die day Zac, 98 00:06:29,836 --> 00:06:34,916 Speaker 1: who is a very successful landscape architect Santa Monica, and 99 00:06:34,956 --> 00:06:38,436 Speaker 1: we're on the corner of Sana Cente in Berlin Game 100 00:06:38,876 --> 00:06:43,196 Speaker 1: and we're looking into the Brentwood Country Club and the 101 00:06:43,196 --> 00:06:44,716 Speaker 1: first thing I see is barbed wire. 102 00:06:45,356 --> 00:06:48,076 Speaker 5: Looks like a couple of layers of barbed wire. 103 00:06:48,476 --> 00:06:50,476 Speaker 1: This looks like it looks like the Berlin Wall. 104 00:06:50,796 --> 00:06:53,156 Speaker 5: It's like they want us to get in there? 105 00:06:53,076 --> 00:06:54,716 Speaker 1: Are you what are we seeing? We're seeing smooth. A 106 00:06:54,716 --> 00:06:57,716 Speaker 1: little closer here, what's that stand up trees? Do you 107 00:06:57,796 --> 00:06:58,556 Speaker 1: know what those are? 108 00:06:58,956 --> 00:06:59,116 Speaker 2: Uh? 109 00:06:59,636 --> 00:07:03,196 Speaker 5: That looks like silk oakes in the foreground. And then 110 00:07:03,436 --> 00:07:07,756 Speaker 5: I see a sadrus theodora, quite lovely. Lots of larger trees, 111 00:07:07,796 --> 00:07:12,636 Speaker 5: which are unusual unless angelists because there's so little open space. 112 00:07:13,956 --> 00:07:17,836 Speaker 5: There's some piness. Canariensis looks like a redwood in there. 113 00:07:18,476 --> 00:07:20,356 Speaker 1: I don't think Dayezac has ever played a round of 114 00:07:20,396 --> 00:07:23,956 Speaker 1: golf in her life. That's exactly why I wanted her opinion. 115 00:07:24,476 --> 00:07:27,796 Speaker 1: I wanted someone objective to tell me what it would 116 00:07:27,836 --> 00:07:29,636 Speaker 1: take to turn this place into a park. 117 00:07:29,836 --> 00:07:32,076 Speaker 5: Well, first of all, I would get rid of the 118 00:07:32,116 --> 00:07:33,596 Speaker 5: two layers of barter wire. 119 00:07:34,196 --> 00:07:37,836 Speaker 1: Were the whole Eastern European feel east. Your German field 120 00:07:37,836 --> 00:07:39,476 Speaker 1: would have to be corrected. 121 00:07:40,076 --> 00:07:43,756 Speaker 5: I mean, that might be some people's bag, but it's 122 00:07:43,796 --> 00:07:44,836 Speaker 5: not very welcoming. 123 00:07:45,436 --> 00:07:52,916 Speaker 1: Yeah. The typical golf course is two hundred acres, give 124 00:07:52,996 --> 00:07:55,516 Speaker 1: or take. There's a lot of land. You have to 125 00:07:55,636 --> 00:07:59,276 Speaker 1: landscape it, mow it, drench it in pesticides, keep the 126 00:07:59,316 --> 00:08:02,596 Speaker 1: sand traps perfect. I read somewhere that when a fancy 127 00:08:02,596 --> 00:08:05,996 Speaker 1: golf course rebuilds its bunkers. It typically takes about three 128 00:08:06,156 --> 00:08:10,156 Speaker 1: hundred and eighty nine truckloads of sand three hundred and 129 00:08:10,276 --> 00:08:13,956 Speaker 1: eighty nine just to keep everything nice and white and fluffy. 130 00:08:14,996 --> 00:08:17,996 Speaker 1: But at the same time, because golf involves launching a 131 00:08:17,996 --> 00:08:23,236 Speaker 1: potentially lethal projectile at great speeds across enormous distances, you 132 00:08:23,316 --> 00:08:25,196 Speaker 1: have to severely limit the number of people on the 133 00:08:25,236 --> 00:08:28,916 Speaker 1: course at any one time. Typically, a good private course 134 00:08:28,956 --> 00:08:31,556 Speaker 1: can handle no more than seventy two golfers at once. 135 00:08:32,036 --> 00:08:34,636 Speaker 1: So that's one golfer per one hundred and twenty eight 136 00:08:34,676 --> 00:08:37,876 Speaker 1: hundred and thirty three square feet. Can you imagine if 137 00:08:37,876 --> 00:08:41,236 Speaker 1: basketball had the same population density as golf. I did 138 00:08:41,236 --> 00:08:44,916 Speaker 1: the math. If basketball was played according to the geographical 139 00:08:44,996 --> 00:08:48,836 Speaker 1: requirements of golf, a basketball court would be thirty acres. 140 00:08:49,876 --> 00:08:58,316 Speaker 1: Picture that that had to play on motorcycles. Okay, another 141 00:08:58,356 --> 00:09:02,996 Speaker 1: fact about golf. Rich people really really like it. They're 142 00:09:03,036 --> 00:09:05,236 Speaker 1: obsessed with it in a way that there just isn't 143 00:09:05,276 --> 00:09:09,116 Speaker 1: any parallel for ordinary people. Because serious golfers are souper 144 00:09:09,276 --> 00:09:12,716 Speaker 1: anal about their scores, we can actually quantify their obsession 145 00:09:13,636 --> 00:09:16,796 Speaker 1: in order to calculate their handicap. Basically how well they're 146 00:09:16,836 --> 00:09:19,436 Speaker 1: playing relative to other people at the country club. They 147 00:09:19,436 --> 00:09:21,996 Speaker 1: all post their results on a database maintained by the 148 00:09:22,116 --> 00:09:26,156 Speaker 1: United States Golf Association. So we have a record and 149 00:09:26,196 --> 00:09:27,556 Speaker 1: it's a gold mine. 150 00:09:27,636 --> 00:09:29,916 Speaker 6: To be able to calculate your handicap and track it 151 00:09:29,956 --> 00:09:33,396 Speaker 6: through time. You will log into the system either at 152 00:09:33,516 --> 00:09:35,636 Speaker 6: your course or on your home computer. 153 00:09:36,076 --> 00:09:38,916 Speaker 1: I'm talking to an economist at Miami University named Lee 154 00:09:39,036 --> 00:09:43,596 Speaker 1: bigger Staff. He's interested in the habits of top corporate executives. 155 00:09:44,196 --> 00:09:46,876 Speaker 1: If you have the corner office and a multimillion dollar 156 00:09:46,956 --> 00:09:49,916 Speaker 1: stock option and a Gulf Stream five, does that make 157 00:09:49,996 --> 00:09:52,116 Speaker 1: you more or less likely to put in a hard 158 00:09:52,156 --> 00:09:56,476 Speaker 1: day's work. The USGA database is of serious professional interest 159 00:09:56,556 --> 00:09:57,716 Speaker 1: to a guy like bigger Staff. 160 00:09:58,036 --> 00:10:01,156 Speaker 6: And your input where you played, and what day you 161 00:10:01,156 --> 00:10:04,596 Speaker 6: played on, and what your score was, and you know, 162 00:10:04,636 --> 00:10:07,796 Speaker 6: after a certain number of rounds being played, the USGA 163 00:10:07,836 --> 00:10:10,716 Speaker 6: will indicate what's your hand indicaptives your level of skill, 164 00:10:10,996 --> 00:10:13,436 Speaker 6: which allows you to compete against other golfers of different 165 00:10:13,436 --> 00:10:15,516 Speaker 6: skill level and kind of normalize against that. 166 00:10:15,916 --> 00:10:18,076 Speaker 1: You know, how you always hear that CEOs play a 167 00:10:18,116 --> 00:10:21,956 Speaker 1: lot of golf. Bigger Staff's insight is that the USGA 168 00:10:22,076 --> 00:10:25,356 Speaker 1: database allows us to know exactly how much they play. 169 00:10:25,916 --> 00:10:28,036 Speaker 1: All you need to do is cross reference that list 170 00:10:28,116 --> 00:10:30,876 Speaker 1: of scores with a list of the CEOs of America's 171 00:10:30,956 --> 00:10:34,436 Speaker 1: largest companies. So that's what he does. It takes forever. 172 00:10:34,556 --> 00:10:36,756 Speaker 6: By the way, Well started while as a PhD student, 173 00:10:37,156 --> 00:10:39,636 Speaker 6: and so this certainly was a multi month process. So 174 00:10:39,676 --> 00:10:41,196 Speaker 6: it's not something that nine is really want to repeat 175 00:10:41,196 --> 00:10:42,476 Speaker 6: in the near term just because it took a lot 176 00:10:42,476 --> 00:10:43,476 Speaker 6: of collection time. 177 00:10:43,516 --> 00:10:46,516 Speaker 1: There, how can you not love this? Surely this is 178 00:10:46,516 --> 00:10:50,156 Speaker 1: why God invented graduate students. Bigger staff begins with the 179 00:10:50,236 --> 00:10:53,156 Speaker 1: names of the heads the top fifteen hundred publicly held 180 00:10:53,196 --> 00:10:56,756 Speaker 1: companies in the US. Three hundred and sixty three of 181 00:10:56,796 --> 00:11:00,156 Speaker 1: those fifteen hundred turn out to be so obsessed with 182 00:11:00,236 --> 00:11:03,316 Speaker 1: golf that they enter their scores into the USGA database. 183 00:11:03,516 --> 00:11:06,996 Speaker 6: What you're seeing on average is, I think fifteen rounds 184 00:11:07,036 --> 00:11:09,476 Speaker 6: a year is kind of the average CEO is playing 185 00:11:09,476 --> 00:11:12,516 Speaker 6: that amount of golf. But it's a heavily skewed distribution, right, 186 00:11:12,556 --> 00:11:13,556 Speaker 6: So we have a lot of people that are playing 187 00:11:13,596 --> 00:11:17,356 Speaker 6: very little golf, and then we have a tail where 188 00:11:17,436 --> 00:11:19,476 Speaker 6: we're picking it up, you know, the top quartile of 189 00:11:19,556 --> 00:11:21,316 Speaker 6: we're looking at which is twenty two or more rounds 190 00:11:21,316 --> 00:11:21,676 Speaker 6: per year. 191 00:11:21,996 --> 00:11:23,796 Speaker 1: And if you go to the top ten percent of 192 00:11:23,836 --> 00:11:27,476 Speaker 1: Bigger Staff sample, the CEOs are playing around at least 193 00:11:27,676 --> 00:11:33,996 Speaker 1: thirty seven times a year. A round of golf is 194 00:11:34,036 --> 00:11:36,356 Speaker 1: a good four four and a half hours, So if 195 00:11:36,356 --> 00:11:39,116 Speaker 1: you play thirty seven times a year, that's more than 196 00:11:39,156 --> 00:11:42,436 Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty hours on the course, the equivalent 197 00:11:42,476 --> 00:11:45,876 Speaker 1: of five and a half weeks of work. And by 198 00:11:45,876 --> 00:11:49,156 Speaker 1: the way, these are understatements. They don't include the time 199 00:11:49,236 --> 00:11:52,716 Speaker 1: spent driving to the course, warming up, getting changed, having 200 00:11:52,716 --> 00:11:56,196 Speaker 1: a drink. Doesn't include the hours spent practicing shots on 201 00:11:56,236 --> 00:11:58,676 Speaker 1: the putting green or the driving range, or all the 202 00:11:58,756 --> 00:12:01,036 Speaker 1: rounds you play that you don't enter into the database, 203 00:12:01,316 --> 00:12:03,316 Speaker 1: like if you're only playing nine holes or playing a 204 00:12:03,356 --> 00:12:06,676 Speaker 1: fun round, so the real time is probably way higher. 205 00:12:07,876 --> 00:12:10,276 Speaker 1: Bigger Staff then goes on to show that the more 206 00:12:10,316 --> 00:12:13,836 Speaker 1: golf of CEO plays, the worse his firm does, and 207 00:12:13,876 --> 00:12:16,596 Speaker 1: also that the more golf of CEO plays, the more 208 00:12:16,716 --> 00:12:19,876 Speaker 1: likely he is to be fired. In other words, this 209 00:12:19,996 --> 00:12:24,476 Speaker 1: isn't a harmless habit, it's a dangerous habit. Remember the 210 00:12:24,516 --> 00:12:28,236 Speaker 1: Wall Street investment bank bear Stearns. They went bankrupt during 211 00:12:28,236 --> 00:12:31,676 Speaker 1: the mortgage crisis. In July of two thousand and seven, 212 00:12:32,196 --> 00:12:35,596 Speaker 1: right when the crisis was beginning, the CEO of Bear 213 00:12:35,596 --> 00:12:38,876 Speaker 1: Stearns would often helicopter out from Wall Street on Friday 214 00:12:38,916 --> 00:12:41,796 Speaker 1: afternoons to his exclusive course in New Jersey to get 215 00:12:41,796 --> 00:12:45,636 Speaker 1: a round in before sunset. Even when his company was collapsing, 216 00:12:45,916 --> 00:12:50,716 Speaker 1: he couldn't stop playing golf. Out of President Donald Trump's 217 00:12:50,716 --> 00:12:53,716 Speaker 1: first four months in office, he visited his own golf 218 00:12:53,716 --> 00:12:57,596 Speaker 1: courses twenty five times. One week he played three times. 219 00:12:58,236 --> 00:13:00,276 Speaker 1: You would think he would be at the office learning 220 00:13:00,276 --> 00:13:03,676 Speaker 1: how to be president, reading intelligence briefings, drading the swamp. No, 221 00:13:03,836 --> 00:13:07,796 Speaker 1: he's golfing. It's an addiction, right, because the definition of 222 00:13:07,796 --> 00:13:11,116 Speaker 1: an addiction is a self dis destructive habit. Just think 223 00:13:11,156 --> 00:13:13,956 Speaker 1: if I said to you that an important employee of 224 00:13:13,956 --> 00:13:17,516 Speaker 1: a major organization made lifestyle choices that caused him to 225 00:13:17,556 --> 00:13:20,876 Speaker 1: miss enormous amounts of work, harm his performance, and put 226 00:13:20,876 --> 00:13:24,316 Speaker 1: his own career in jeopardy, you would say, WHOA check 227 00:13:24,396 --> 00:13:29,356 Speaker 1: that guy into rehab. That's golf crack cocaine for rich 228 00:13:29,396 --> 00:13:29,916 Speaker 1: white guys. 229 00:13:31,316 --> 00:13:34,436 Speaker 6: The highest in the sample one hundred and forty six 230 00:13:34,556 --> 00:13:37,356 Speaker 6: or one hundred and forty eight rounds recorded in a 231 00:13:37,396 --> 00:13:38,916 Speaker 6: single year, which I mean that at that point, that's 232 00:13:38,916 --> 00:13:41,236 Speaker 6: a tremendous amount of time spent on the golf course. 233 00:13:41,636 --> 00:13:44,156 Speaker 1: You thought I was engaging in hyperbolely, didn't you that 234 00:13:44,236 --> 00:13:47,436 Speaker 1: I was using the word addiction metaphorically. One hundred and 235 00:13:47,516 --> 00:13:49,596 Speaker 1: forty eight rounds a year is a round of golf 236 00:13:49,756 --> 00:13:51,956 Speaker 1: every three days. 237 00:13:52,036 --> 00:13:53,716 Speaker 6: And that would be if it was kind of uniformly 238 00:13:53,716 --> 00:13:57,716 Speaker 6: distributed across the year. It's you know, GoF certainly has 239 00:13:57,716 --> 00:14:00,156 Speaker 6: a season where it's a little bit more intense in 240 00:14:00,236 --> 00:14:02,196 Speaker 6: terms of the summer versus the winner. 241 00:14:03,076 --> 00:14:06,756 Speaker 1: And you can't tell me what company it is. I 242 00:14:06,796 --> 00:14:08,196 Speaker 1: want to know what company it is. 243 00:14:08,836 --> 00:14:11,836 Speaker 6: Yeah, we're just with this data, given it somewhat sensitive, 244 00:14:13,396 --> 00:14:15,636 Speaker 6: we're unwilling to name out CEOs. 245 00:14:16,156 --> 00:14:18,476 Speaker 1: I can't believe you won't tell me. I mean, here, 246 00:14:18,516 --> 00:14:21,756 Speaker 1: we have an activity that is incredibly expensive, that is 247 00:14:21,916 --> 00:14:25,436 Speaker 1: organized in just about the most extravagant manner possible, and 248 00:14:25,476 --> 00:14:29,036 Speaker 1: at the same time, this expensive habit is incredibly addictive, 249 00:14:29,236 --> 00:14:31,436 Speaker 1: to the point that there's a chief executive out there 250 00:14:31,556 --> 00:14:35,396 Speaker 1: of a major American corporation who plays an average of 251 00:14:35,396 --> 00:14:37,956 Speaker 1: one hundred and forty eight rounds of golf a year 252 00:14:38,396 --> 00:14:41,756 Speaker 1: and is so completely unself conscious about that fact that 253 00:14:41,796 --> 00:14:44,636 Speaker 1: he posts all one hundred and forty eight rounds on 254 00:14:44,716 --> 00:14:48,476 Speaker 1: a public database where it can be analyzed by graduate students. 255 00:14:49,356 --> 00:14:51,756 Speaker 1: So what happens to rich white guys with a dangerous, 256 00:14:51,796 --> 00:14:55,436 Speaker 1: costly obsession? Do they burn through their life savings paying 257 00:14:55,476 --> 00:14:59,196 Speaker 1: for their addiction like ordinary addicts do? Please give them 258 00:14:59,236 --> 00:15:00,076 Speaker 1: a little more respect. 259 00:15:02,676 --> 00:15:05,036 Speaker 3: By the way, this is my fifteenth year in television. 260 00:15:05,076 --> 00:15:06,676 Speaker 1: Imagine that fifteen years of me. 261 00:15:09,156 --> 00:15:11,396 Speaker 4: Longest stomach test and the history of showb. 262 00:15:12,756 --> 00:15:15,676 Speaker 2: You could argue, I would say in the forties and fifties, 263 00:15:15,716 --> 00:15:18,116 Speaker 2: there was no one who was more widely popular in 264 00:15:18,156 --> 00:15:19,396 Speaker 2: America than Bob Hope. 265 00:15:19,516 --> 00:15:23,596 Speaker 1: I'm talking to Richard Saglan, Bob Hope's biographer. I think 266 00:15:23,636 --> 00:15:26,116 Speaker 1: Bob Hope has been a little forgotten in recent years, 267 00:15:26,396 --> 00:15:28,436 Speaker 1: but in his day he was huge. 268 00:15:28,956 --> 00:15:32,156 Speaker 2: Every late night comedian who does a stand up monologue 269 00:15:32,156 --> 00:15:34,556 Speaker 2: at the beginning of the show owes a debt to 270 00:15:34,596 --> 00:15:36,876 Speaker 2: Bob Hope, because he kind of invented that thing, a 271 00:15:36,956 --> 00:15:39,796 Speaker 2: stand up comedy monologue that sort of took note of 272 00:15:39,796 --> 00:15:41,756 Speaker 2: what was going on in the world, what was going 273 00:15:41,756 --> 00:15:44,756 Speaker 2: on in Hollywood, what was going on everywhere, And he 274 00:15:44,916 --> 00:15:48,116 Speaker 2: was just the voice of America. I think for a 275 00:15:48,156 --> 00:15:48,676 Speaker 2: long time. 276 00:15:49,676 --> 00:15:51,836 Speaker 1: Bob Hope is a crucial part of the story of 277 00:15:51,836 --> 00:15:55,556 Speaker 1: golf in America, although I'm warning you things are going 278 00:15:55,556 --> 00:15:58,436 Speaker 1: to get a little complicated, which is sort of the point, 279 00:15:58,516 --> 00:16:00,356 Speaker 1: because you don't get to run the world for as 280 00:16:00,356 --> 00:16:03,356 Speaker 1: long as rich white guys have without being pretty wily, 281 00:16:04,116 --> 00:16:07,076 Speaker 1: and some of their best and wiliest work has been 282 00:16:07,116 --> 00:16:12,276 Speaker 1: on the golf course. So there's a principal and property 283 00:16:12,276 --> 00:16:15,356 Speaker 1: tax law called highest and best use, which is that 284 00:16:15,396 --> 00:16:17,516 Speaker 1: one of the ways you figure out how much to 285 00:16:17,596 --> 00:16:20,436 Speaker 1: tax a piece of property is to estimate what its 286 00:16:20,516 --> 00:16:23,636 Speaker 1: best use might be. For example, if I have a 287 00:16:23,676 --> 00:16:26,356 Speaker 1: one acre plot and the fanciest part of Manhattan that 288 00:16:26,436 --> 00:16:28,796 Speaker 1: I used to grow vegetables, I can't say to the 289 00:16:28,796 --> 00:16:32,316 Speaker 1: city that land is worthless, it's just a vegetable garden. No, 290 00:16:32,916 --> 00:16:35,196 Speaker 1: the city's going to say, we're going to value that 291 00:16:35,236 --> 00:16:37,436 Speaker 1: one acre and tax it as if it had an 292 00:16:37,476 --> 00:16:40,516 Speaker 1: apartment block on it, because that's the best use of 293 00:16:40,636 --> 00:16:43,796 Speaker 1: land in the fancy parts of Manhattan. Now, if you've 294 00:16:43,796 --> 00:16:45,836 Speaker 1: got a vast golf course in the middle of Beverly 295 00:16:45,916 --> 00:16:49,796 Speaker 1: Hills or Brentwood, highest and best use makes you really nervous, 296 00:16:50,356 --> 00:16:53,236 Speaker 1: because plainly, the highest and best use of land in 297 00:16:53,236 --> 00:16:55,236 Speaker 1: the middle of one of the most expensive and densely 298 00:16:55,236 --> 00:16:58,076 Speaker 1: populated cities in the world is not a private golf course. 299 00:16:59,556 --> 00:17:03,276 Speaker 1: So years ago, in nineteen sixty, California's country clubs realize 300 00:17:03,356 --> 00:17:05,956 Speaker 1: they have to act or they're going to get taxed 301 00:17:05,996 --> 00:17:10,036 Speaker 1: into oblivion. They get together and they propose an amendment 302 00:17:10,036 --> 00:17:13,836 Speaker 1: to the state constitution that permanently exempts them from the 303 00:17:13,916 --> 00:17:17,516 Speaker 1: highest and best use standard. They want their vegetable garden 304 00:17:17,596 --> 00:17:22,116 Speaker 1: to be taxed as a vegetable garden. If you think 305 00:17:22,156 --> 00:17:27,116 Speaker 1: about it, this is seriously audacious. Private golf courses are 306 00:17:27,156 --> 00:17:31,876 Speaker 1: these massive, opulent, gated playgrounds, and membership is often restricted. 307 00:17:32,076 --> 00:17:34,516 Speaker 1: In Los Angeles in nineteen sixty, a lot of these 308 00:17:34,516 --> 00:17:37,356 Speaker 1: clubs didn't let in Jews. They certainly didn't let in 309 00:17:37,396 --> 00:17:40,356 Speaker 1: black people except to work in the kitchen. Yet they 310 00:17:40,396 --> 00:17:44,996 Speaker 1: wanted a constitutional exemption to ordinary property taxes, like there 311 00:17:44,996 --> 00:17:48,236 Speaker 1: were some kind of public amenity. How can they argue this? 312 00:17:48,916 --> 00:17:52,956 Speaker 1: They don't not really. They just bring in Bob Hope, who, 313 00:17:53,036 --> 00:17:56,196 Speaker 1: in addition to being the most popular entertainer in America, 314 00:17:56,356 --> 00:18:00,556 Speaker 1: is also an obsessive golfer obsessive. I might as well 315 00:18:00,636 --> 00:18:01,076 Speaker 1: level with you. 316 00:18:01,116 --> 00:18:03,476 Speaker 4: I spent so much time in Sandstraft they sent me 317 00:18:03,556 --> 00:18:07,196 Speaker 4: citizenship papers from Saudi Arabia. Oh yeah, I love to 318 00:18:07,196 --> 00:18:08,676 Speaker 4: hear the whole story. 319 00:18:08,676 --> 00:18:11,556 Speaker 1: Bob Hope once wrote an entire book just devoted to 320 00:18:11,596 --> 00:18:14,836 Speaker 1: his golf game, called Confessions of a Hooker, in which 321 00:18:14,836 --> 00:18:18,356 Speaker 1: he estimates that he had played on two thousand different 322 00:18:18,396 --> 00:18:20,476 Speaker 1: golf courses over the course of his life. 323 00:18:20,596 --> 00:18:24,276 Speaker 2: He belonged to the Lakeside Country Club in La near 324 00:18:24,316 --> 00:18:29,956 Speaker 2: where he lived, one of the prestigiousstigious I think so. Yeah. 325 00:18:30,356 --> 00:18:32,596 Speaker 1: The genius at picking Bob Hope is the face of 326 00:18:32,636 --> 00:18:37,156 Speaker 1: California's country clubs is that his whole persona, his whole act, 327 00:18:37,476 --> 00:18:40,796 Speaker 1: was about being every man. He's self deprecating. Half his 328 00:18:40,876 --> 00:18:43,236 Speaker 1: jokes are about how he's not part of the inn group, 329 00:18:43,396 --> 00:18:45,596 Speaker 1: even though of course there's no one more in than 330 00:18:45,636 --> 00:18:46,156 Speaker 1: Bob Hope. 331 00:18:46,316 --> 00:18:48,356 Speaker 3: Isn't this wonderful all being here in California? 332 00:18:48,436 --> 00:18:48,956 Speaker 4: I just love it. 333 00:18:48,996 --> 00:18:51,716 Speaker 3: Look at that skuy, That's the only place in the 334 00:18:51,716 --> 00:18:53,556 Speaker 3: world where you can get four seasons in one day. 335 00:18:53,596 --> 00:18:56,796 Speaker 3: I want to tell you that this is we better hurry, 336 00:18:56,836 --> 00:18:58,436 Speaker 3: We'll be able to be snowing before the third. 337 00:18:58,436 --> 00:19:00,236 Speaker 2: Hold, you know, let's move on. 338 00:19:00,356 --> 00:19:03,436 Speaker 1: Oh boy, So, how did the Bob Hope for Golf 339 00:19:03,476 --> 00:19:08,156 Speaker 1: campaign do in nineteen sixty It wins. The proposition passes 340 00:19:08,396 --> 00:19:11,316 Speaker 1: and is added to Article thirteen of the California Constitution, 341 00:19:11,716 --> 00:19:15,716 Speaker 1: where it remains to this day. In order to win 342 00:19:15,916 --> 00:19:18,476 Speaker 1: a set of privileges for the very wealthy, in other words, 343 00:19:18,836 --> 00:19:22,396 Speaker 1: California's country clubs turn to a man who symbolizes the 344 00:19:22,436 --> 00:19:25,956 Speaker 1: common man. I mean, when does it ever happen that 345 00:19:25,996 --> 00:19:28,876 Speaker 1: a TV celebrity wins a sweetheart deal for his rich 346 00:19:28,916 --> 00:19:31,676 Speaker 1: golf buddies by posing as a friend of the common man? 347 00:19:32,636 --> 00:19:48,196 Speaker 1: If you get my drift to take me back, just 348 00:19:48,436 --> 00:19:51,796 Speaker 1: to I totally understand Prop thirteen property has passed in 349 00:19:51,836 --> 00:19:56,716 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight, and what are the principal stipulations of 350 00:19:56,756 --> 00:20:01,036 Speaker 1: the proposition. I'm in a big conference room in the 351 00:20:01,036 --> 00:20:04,796 Speaker 1: Los Angeles County Municipal Building, one of those beautiful nineteen 352 00:20:04,916 --> 00:20:07,956 Speaker 1: thirties office buildings that are all over downtown Los Angeles. 353 00:20:08,436 --> 00:20:10,356 Speaker 1: There are four people on the other side of the table. 354 00:20:10,716 --> 00:20:14,036 Speaker 1: They're from the LA County tax Assessor's office. I'm on 355 00:20:14,116 --> 00:20:17,116 Speaker 1: my quest to figure out why Brentwood Country Club isn't 356 00:20:17,196 --> 00:20:19,116 Speaker 1: just a big park that I can go running through. 357 00:20:19,676 --> 00:20:21,996 Speaker 1: And I've decided to start with the people who run 358 00:20:22,036 --> 00:20:27,036 Speaker 1: the tax system. These are serious folks, deliberate, thoughtful. They 359 00:20:27,036 --> 00:20:29,956 Speaker 1: have promised to help me. You'll have to guess what 360 00:20:30,036 --> 00:20:30,716 Speaker 1: they really think. 361 00:20:32,396 --> 00:20:35,876 Speaker 7: The tax rate is set is one percent of the value, 362 00:20:36,156 --> 00:20:38,236 Speaker 7: as opposed to a variable rate, which it was before. 363 00:20:38,596 --> 00:20:41,796 Speaker 1: The man speaking is Brian Donnelly. He's talking about the 364 00:20:41,836 --> 00:20:46,156 Speaker 1: most famous amendment to the California Constitution, Proposition thirteen. 365 00:20:46,676 --> 00:20:50,516 Speaker 7: The properties only get reassessed with when there's a transfer 366 00:20:50,596 --> 00:20:54,436 Speaker 7: or a change of ownership, or there's new construction. Those 367 00:20:54,436 --> 00:20:56,036 Speaker 7: are the primary parts of it. 368 00:20:56,356 --> 00:20:59,076 Speaker 1: Here's what he's saying. If you own a house, every 369 00:20:59,076 --> 00:21:01,756 Speaker 1: one or two years, typically the value of your property 370 00:21:01,836 --> 00:21:04,116 Speaker 1: is reassessed by the city or county where you live. 371 00:21:04,796 --> 00:21:07,436 Speaker 1: So if your house doubles in value, the local government 372 00:21:07,436 --> 00:21:11,276 Speaker 1: will raise your taxes accordingly. That's the way property taxes work, 373 00:21:11,956 --> 00:21:16,556 Speaker 1: except in California. Proposition thirteen said that for tax purposes, 374 00:21:16,796 --> 00:21:19,756 Speaker 1: the value of any piece of property in California is 375 00:21:19,876 --> 00:21:23,756 Speaker 1: frozen at pre nineteen seventy eight levels, and the only 376 00:21:23,796 --> 00:21:27,036 Speaker 1: way that property can be reassessed at its real current 377 00:21:27,156 --> 00:21:30,356 Speaker 1: value is if the property is sold, or to be 378 00:21:30,436 --> 00:21:34,036 Speaker 1: more specific, if ownership of more than fifty percent of 379 00:21:34,076 --> 00:21:38,436 Speaker 1: the property changes hands. In other words, California has two 380 00:21:38,516 --> 00:21:42,236 Speaker 1: kinds of taxpayers, the post nineteen seventy eight people who 381 00:21:42,236 --> 00:21:45,996 Speaker 1: pay normal property taxes, and the people lucky and old 382 00:21:46,076 --> 00:21:48,316 Speaker 1: enough to be living in the same house they owned 383 00:21:48,356 --> 00:21:51,556 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy eight, who pay a tiny fraction of 384 00:21:51,596 --> 00:21:52,276 Speaker 1: their fair share. 385 00:21:52,556 --> 00:21:55,156 Speaker 7: You know, I've got family members who've owned their house 386 00:21:55,156 --> 00:21:59,436 Speaker 7: in nineteen sixty nine and they're paying I think their 387 00:21:59,436 --> 00:22:02,596 Speaker 7: tax will value is bad ninety thousand dollars or something 388 00:22:02,596 --> 00:22:04,836 Speaker 7: like that. The houses in that neighborhood sell for six hundred, 389 00:22:05,316 --> 00:22:09,636 Speaker 7: so they're paying a lot less. It's the property conundrum, 390 00:22:09,636 --> 00:22:11,116 Speaker 7: which I'm sure you've read about. 391 00:22:14,356 --> 00:22:18,996 Speaker 1: Please understand, this system is insane, totally crazy. I mean, 392 00:22:19,116 --> 00:22:21,316 Speaker 1: just think of all the reasons why someone might deserve 393 00:22:21,356 --> 00:22:24,396 Speaker 1: a big tax break. I mean, they're sick, they're poor, 394 00:22:24,996 --> 00:22:27,356 Speaker 1: they have tons of young kids, they've made a big 395 00:22:27,396 --> 00:22:30,516 Speaker 1: investment in their business. The State of California says, no, 396 00:22:31,316 --> 00:22:34,396 Speaker 1: we think the most deserving group are people whose property 397 00:22:34,436 --> 00:22:39,236 Speaker 1: hasn't changed hands in forty years. Okay, Now, imagine that 398 00:22:39,276 --> 00:22:42,916 Speaker 1: you're a private golf club you did that spectacular bit 399 00:22:42,916 --> 00:22:45,676 Speaker 1: of jiu jitsu with Bob Hope in nineteen sixty, which 400 00:22:45,716 --> 00:22:48,956 Speaker 1: means that you don't pay real property taxes. Gift from 401 00:22:48,956 --> 00:22:53,876 Speaker 1: God number one. Then comes proposition thirteen, and you get 402 00:22:53,916 --> 00:22:58,356 Speaker 1: a second gift from God, because proposition thirteen says that 403 00:22:58,396 --> 00:23:03,396 Speaker 1: those already artificially low property taxes are now frozen forever 404 00:23:03,516 --> 00:23:07,316 Speaker 1: at nineteen seventy eight levels, so long as your country 405 00:23:07,356 --> 00:23:11,556 Speaker 1: club does not change hands. And that last part is crucial, 406 00:23:12,076 --> 00:23:15,196 Speaker 1: because if you have a change in ownership, then you 407 00:23:15,356 --> 00:23:19,156 Speaker 1: have to pay real property tax like every other long 408 00:23:19,236 --> 00:23:22,636 Speaker 1: suffering California taxpayer who hasn't been in one place since 409 00:23:22,716 --> 00:23:27,556 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight. So the country clubs of Los Angeles 410 00:23:27,956 --> 00:23:33,076 Speaker 1: all hang by a thread. They continue to exist only 411 00:23:33,196 --> 00:23:36,276 Speaker 1: so long as the tax system perceives that they have 412 00:23:36,436 --> 00:23:41,276 Speaker 1: not changed hands. And for years everyone assumes they haven't 413 00:23:41,356 --> 00:23:45,996 Speaker 1: changed hands. I mean Brentwood, LA country Club, Wiltshire, all 414 00:23:46,036 --> 00:23:49,196 Speaker 1: the major golf clubs were all founded before nineteen seventy eight. 415 00:23:50,196 --> 00:23:53,996 Speaker 1: But then a neighborhood newspaper called the Los Angeles Garment 416 00:23:54,116 --> 00:23:59,116 Speaker 1: and Citizen runs an article January sixteenth, twenty ten, in 417 00:23:59,156 --> 00:24:03,676 Speaker 1: which they say, wait a minute, Most private country clubs 418 00:24:03,756 --> 00:24:07,996 Speaker 1: in Los Angeles have what's called equity ownership. They're owned 419 00:24:07,996 --> 00:24:11,116 Speaker 1: by their members. When you're admitted, you get a share. 420 00:24:11,396 --> 00:24:14,036 Speaker 1: When you die or quit, someone else takes your share. 421 00:24:14,756 --> 00:24:18,116 Speaker 1: So over time, if enough members die or quit, isn't 422 00:24:18,116 --> 00:24:21,636 Speaker 1: that a change in ownership. That question was put to 423 00:24:21,716 --> 00:24:24,556 Speaker 1: Rick Auerbach, who was then the head of tax assessment 424 00:24:24,596 --> 00:24:25,436 Speaker 1: for La County. 425 00:24:25,756 --> 00:24:27,116 Speaker 7: I think the quote was kind of funny for me. 426 00:24:27,116 --> 00:24:30,156 Speaker 7: You said something about, let's see, on most issues we 427 00:24:30,196 --> 00:24:32,316 Speaker 7: haven't heard at least the question asked before. He said 428 00:24:32,356 --> 00:24:33,876 Speaker 7: he'd worked in the office thirty nine years, but this 429 00:24:33,916 --> 00:24:34,396 Speaker 7: was a new one. 430 00:24:34,636 --> 00:24:38,796 Speaker 1: So Aurback refers the question to the city's lawyers. They 431 00:24:38,796 --> 00:24:41,316 Speaker 1: put their best and brightest legal minds on it for 432 00:24:41,396 --> 00:24:45,716 Speaker 1: six months, and on June second, twenty ten, the County's 433 00:24:45,756 --> 00:24:49,756 Speaker 1: tax court issues a solemn, four page ruling. They conclude, 434 00:24:50,036 --> 00:24:54,876 Speaker 1: no country clubs haven't changed hands. If you're keeping track, 435 00:24:55,116 --> 00:24:57,836 Speaker 1: that's the third straight up gift from God that LA's 436 00:24:57,876 --> 00:25:00,236 Speaker 1: private country clubs have gotten in the last fifty years. 437 00:25:00,716 --> 00:25:03,636 Speaker 1: He was talking to someone who's a member of Bellair 438 00:25:03,676 --> 00:25:07,276 Speaker 1: Country Club and I said, what percentage of the members 439 00:25:07,276 --> 00:25:10,636 Speaker 1: of bel Air today were members in seventy eight? And 440 00:25:10,676 --> 00:25:14,436 Speaker 1: he said, you know, ten percent? So why isn't that 441 00:25:14,476 --> 00:25:15,396 Speaker 1: a change of ownership? 442 00:25:15,756 --> 00:25:15,916 Speaker 2: Right? 443 00:25:15,996 --> 00:25:17,836 Speaker 7: If I haven't had a chance to dig through this 444 00:25:17,876 --> 00:25:20,596 Speaker 7: a whole lot since I got it out of the 445 00:25:20,596 --> 00:25:23,156 Speaker 7: file the other day. But they kind of get into it. 446 00:25:23,156 --> 00:25:26,556 Speaker 7: It's they're saying, if there's no one event that is 447 00:25:26,996 --> 00:25:30,076 Speaker 7: that is more than fifty percent of a transfer, then 448 00:25:30,236 --> 00:25:32,796 Speaker 7: it's not. Each of those little individual slices are not 449 00:25:32,916 --> 00:25:34,276 Speaker 7: a change of ownership. 450 00:25:33,836 --> 00:25:34,316 Speaker 2: On their own. 451 00:25:35,356 --> 00:25:36,956 Speaker 1: Did you find that argument plausible? 452 00:25:38,596 --> 00:25:44,316 Speaker 7: Well, yeah, that's that's we're implementers of the law. 453 00:25:44,756 --> 00:25:48,636 Speaker 1: You don't have opinions. No, well no, no. I could 454 00:25:48,716 --> 00:25:51,116 Speaker 1: swear as I looked across the table at Donnelly and 455 00:25:51,116 --> 00:25:54,756 Speaker 1: his cohorts that they were twitching like they desperately wanted 456 00:25:54,756 --> 00:25:57,516 Speaker 1: to say something but had to bite their tongue. You 457 00:25:57,556 --> 00:26:01,676 Speaker 1: know what it's like. You know that famous paradox I 458 00:26:01,756 --> 00:26:04,876 Speaker 1: forgot with the ship. Well, you the question is if 459 00:26:04,916 --> 00:26:06,596 Speaker 1: you change If you have a ship and you change 460 00:26:06,596 --> 00:26:08,916 Speaker 1: a sex some ancient Greek think, and you change one 461 00:26:09,396 --> 00:26:11,956 Speaker 1: at a time, is at the end of the day, 462 00:26:12,036 --> 00:26:15,716 Speaker 1: is a ship different that's what this is. The thing 463 00:26:15,756 --> 00:26:18,916 Speaker 1: I can't remember is a ship of theseus. The famous 464 00:26:18,956 --> 00:26:22,236 Speaker 1: thought experiment described by the Greek philosopher Plutarch roughly two 465 00:26:22,276 --> 00:26:28,316 Speaker 1: thousand years ago. Plutarch says, imagine theseus is sailing on 466 00:26:28,356 --> 00:26:31,276 Speaker 1: a ship, and one by one he replaces every one 467 00:26:31,316 --> 00:26:33,756 Speaker 1: of the original planks that make up that ship with 468 00:26:33,796 --> 00:26:36,556 Speaker 1: a new plank, until every single piece of the ship 469 00:26:36,716 --> 00:26:40,876 Speaker 1: is new. The question is, when theseus reaches shore, is 470 00:26:40,876 --> 00:26:42,756 Speaker 1: he sailing on the same ship as he was when 471 00:26:42,756 --> 00:26:46,516 Speaker 1: he left or a new ship. One view says it's 472 00:26:46,516 --> 00:26:50,316 Speaker 1: a new ship. This is called the myriological theory of identity. 473 00:26:50,636 --> 00:26:53,676 Speaker 1: The identity of something is the sum of its component parts. 474 00:26:54,276 --> 00:26:58,236 Speaker 1: Change the parts, you change the thing. On the other 475 00:26:58,276 --> 00:27:02,156 Speaker 1: side of the argument is something called spatio temporal continuity theory, 476 00:27:02,476 --> 00:27:06,196 Speaker 1: which says that an object can maintain its identity so 477 00:27:06,396 --> 00:27:09,796 Speaker 1: long as the change is gradual and the form or 478 00:27:09,876 --> 00:27:13,036 Speaker 1: shape of the object is preserved to the changes of 479 00:27:13,036 --> 00:27:16,796 Speaker 1: its component materials. I think you can see where I'm 480 00:27:16,796 --> 00:27:20,676 Speaker 1: going with this. The city's lawyers take a second view. 481 00:27:21,396 --> 00:27:24,036 Speaker 1: So long as a country club replaces its rich white 482 00:27:24,076 --> 00:27:27,636 Speaker 1: guys gradually, and so long as each new rich white 483 00:27:27,676 --> 00:27:30,316 Speaker 1: guy preserves the form and shape of the rich white 484 00:27:30,316 --> 00:27:33,156 Speaker 1: guy he is replacing. Then the private golf clubs of 485 00:27:33,236 --> 00:27:37,036 Speaker 1: today must have the same existential status as the private 486 00:27:37,036 --> 00:27:41,236 Speaker 1: golf courses of nineteen seventy eight. Collections of rich white guys, 487 00:27:41,356 --> 00:27:44,476 Speaker 1: from the standpoint of the La County property tax system, 488 00:27:44,476 --> 00:27:51,636 Speaker 1: possess spatio temporal continuity. At this point I realized I 489 00:27:51,716 --> 00:27:54,716 Speaker 1: was in way over my head. Tax assessors were not 490 00:27:54,756 --> 00:27:58,796 Speaker 1: going to be enough. I needed an actual philosopher, so 491 00:27:58,876 --> 00:28:02,556 Speaker 1: I called Mark Cohen of the University of Washington to 492 00:28:02,636 --> 00:28:05,196 Speaker 1: get to the bottom of the question of whether large 493 00:28:05,196 --> 00:28:08,236 Speaker 1: groups of rich white people possess ontological permanence. 494 00:28:09,356 --> 00:28:14,876 Speaker 3: Here's an argument that favors the spaciotemporal continuity theory. The 495 00:28:14,996 --> 00:28:19,796 Speaker 3: idea that what makes the ship persist through time as 496 00:28:19,876 --> 00:28:23,676 Speaker 3: one and the same is that it moves smoothly through 497 00:28:23,716 --> 00:28:28,236 Speaker 3: space time. One plank is removed and thrown overboard, and 498 00:28:28,436 --> 00:28:31,436 Speaker 3: a replacement plank is installed taken from the cargo the 499 00:28:31,476 --> 00:28:34,756 Speaker 3: ship has on board, So when it arrives, it doesn't 500 00:28:34,796 --> 00:28:37,876 Speaker 3: have a single part that is identical to any of 501 00:28:37,876 --> 00:28:40,516 Speaker 3: the parts it started out with. And so there's no 502 00:28:40,636 --> 00:28:42,916 Speaker 3: point at which you can say Aha, Now we have 503 00:28:42,956 --> 00:28:47,156 Speaker 3: a new ship, a different a numerically different ship. So 504 00:28:47,236 --> 00:28:49,716 Speaker 3: that if you have that sort of argument in mind, 505 00:28:49,756 --> 00:28:53,316 Speaker 3: you think, okay, the Space show temporal continuity criterion is 506 00:28:53,356 --> 00:28:56,156 Speaker 3: the correct one. Forget about requiring that all the parts 507 00:28:56,196 --> 00:28:56,756 Speaker 3: are the same. 508 00:28:57,396 --> 00:29:01,636 Speaker 1: But con is not finished. As a philosopher, his job 509 00:29:01,716 --> 00:29:04,356 Speaker 1: is to consider all the scenarios raised by the ship 510 00:29:04,396 --> 00:29:07,876 Speaker 1: of THESEUS conundrum, like the museum counterexample. 511 00:29:08,116 --> 00:29:12,036 Speaker 3: The museum example goes like this. Suppose the ship is 512 00:29:12,916 --> 00:29:16,556 Speaker 3: in a museum of ancient ships and a gang of 513 00:29:16,596 --> 00:29:19,956 Speaker 3: crooks is trying to steal this ancient ship, and it 514 00:29:20,036 --> 00:29:23,116 Speaker 3: realizes it can't just haul it out in one piece. 515 00:29:23,156 --> 00:29:25,716 Speaker 3: They would easily be spotted. So they come up with 516 00:29:25,756 --> 00:29:26,676 Speaker 3: a clever scheme. 517 00:29:27,036 --> 00:29:30,036 Speaker 1: They sneak in every night and steal the ship, one 518 00:29:30,076 --> 00:29:32,676 Speaker 1: board at a time, one plank a day, so the 519 00:29:32,756 --> 00:29:34,596 Speaker 1: museum doesn't realize what's going on. 520 00:29:34,876 --> 00:29:38,356 Speaker 3: By the time they're finished on day number n they 521 00:29:38,396 --> 00:29:42,236 Speaker 3: have all end parts of the ship removed. Now they 522 00:29:42,276 --> 00:29:45,436 Speaker 3: reassemble them and put it on the black market. They're 523 00:29:45,596 --> 00:29:49,996 Speaker 3: selling Theseus's ancient ship for a pretty price, and they've 524 00:29:50,116 --> 00:29:54,396 Speaker 3: left a replica behind in the museum. I contend that 525 00:29:54,436 --> 00:29:57,676 Speaker 3: in this case, when you describe it in this way, 526 00:29:57,796 --> 00:30:02,596 Speaker 3: it seems as if Theseus's ship has been stolen piecemeal 527 00:30:02,796 --> 00:30:05,316 Speaker 3: from the museum. 528 00:30:05,596 --> 00:30:08,076 Speaker 1: Cohen's point is that there's no simple answer to the 529 00:30:08,076 --> 00:30:11,556 Speaker 1: ship of Theseus prop You can go around and around 530 00:30:11,636 --> 00:30:14,756 Speaker 1: and around. That's why it's a puzzle. But do you 531 00:30:14,796 --> 00:30:17,876 Speaker 1: see what the lawyers at the LA Board of Equalization did. 532 00:30:18,556 --> 00:30:22,076 Speaker 1: They just waltz into a philosophical conundrum that has bedeviled 533 00:30:22,116 --> 00:30:24,316 Speaker 1: some of the best minds in the world for two 534 00:30:24,556 --> 00:30:28,316 Speaker 1: thousand years and declare victory and say, oh, it's definitely 535 00:30:28,316 --> 00:30:33,316 Speaker 1: option one spatio temporal continuity. 536 00:30:34,796 --> 00:30:40,036 Speaker 3: The problem as it stands is irresolvable, and you only 537 00:30:40,116 --> 00:30:42,756 Speaker 3: come to a conclusion that makes any sense to you 538 00:30:43,596 --> 00:30:48,676 Speaker 3: if you place it in a context in which there 539 00:30:48,756 --> 00:30:54,516 Speaker 3: is something sort of extra metaphysical, something pragmatic, that helps 540 00:30:54,556 --> 00:30:56,556 Speaker 3: that tilts you in one direction or the other. 541 00:30:57,036 --> 00:31:01,436 Speaker 1: So what's the pragmatic, extra metaphysical consideration here? It's at 542 00:31:01,476 --> 00:31:05,036 Speaker 1: Los Angeles ranks near the bottom of all major metropolitan 543 00:31:05,116 --> 00:31:08,276 Speaker 1: areas in the United States in terms of public parks. 544 00:31:08,916 --> 00:31:11,476 Speaker 1: There is Griffith Park off in the northeastern corner of 545 00:31:11,516 --> 00:31:13,716 Speaker 1: the city, which only a fraction of the city can 546 00:31:13,796 --> 00:31:17,516 Speaker 1: even get to, and then there's basically nothing except these 547 00:31:17,556 --> 00:31:20,876 Speaker 1: massive golf courses, which are both closed to the general 548 00:31:20,916 --> 00:31:24,476 Speaker 1: public and subsidized by the general public. Do you want 549 00:31:24,476 --> 00:31:27,196 Speaker 1: to know the size of that subsidy? I asked around 550 00:31:27,876 --> 00:31:29,836 Speaker 1: a guy I know knows a guy who's a member 551 00:31:29,876 --> 00:31:32,356 Speaker 1: of the La Country Club. That guy's back of the 552 00:31:32,436 --> 00:31:35,436 Speaker 1: envelope calculation was that the club's land was worth about 553 00:31:35,476 --> 00:31:38,396 Speaker 1: six billion dollars. But that was a couple of years ago. 554 00:31:38,956 --> 00:31:40,836 Speaker 1: Then I heard from another guy who said that they 555 00:31:40,876 --> 00:31:46,276 Speaker 1: now think it's worth nine billion, nine billion. Under normal circumstances, 556 00:31:46,476 --> 00:31:49,036 Speaker 1: the property taxes on that much land would come to 557 00:31:49,116 --> 00:31:52,636 Speaker 1: about ninety million dollars a year. Do you know what 558 00:31:52,796 --> 00:31:55,676 Speaker 1: La Country Club actually paid after you add up the 559 00:31:55,676 --> 00:32:00,156 Speaker 1: Bob Hope exemption and the Spatio temporal continuity ruling two 560 00:32:00,316 --> 00:32:04,356 Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars give or take all. Right, let's do 561 00:32:04,476 --> 00:32:09,036 Speaker 1: the math together. They should be paying ninety million. In fact, 562 00:32:09,156 --> 00:32:12,636 Speaker 1: they're only paying two hundred thousand dollars in property taxes. 563 00:32:13,516 --> 00:32:16,916 Speaker 1: Ninety million minus two hundred thousand dollars is eighty nine million, 564 00:32:17,036 --> 00:32:20,756 Speaker 1: eight hundred thousand dollars. That's how much the tax bearers 565 00:32:20,836 --> 00:32:24,996 Speaker 1: of Los Angeles subsidize one of the swankiest country clubs 566 00:32:25,036 --> 00:32:28,196 Speaker 1: in the world every year. Well, now I wander to 567 00:32:28,236 --> 00:32:30,836 Speaker 1: bring up something else that comes to mind here, which 568 00:32:31,396 --> 00:32:37,436 Speaker 1: is that the spatial temporal argument, taken out of philosophical context, 569 00:32:38,036 --> 00:32:43,836 Speaker 1: strikes me as being can sometimes be really troubling. For example, 570 00:32:43,916 --> 00:32:47,516 Speaker 1: it's a very I mean, I think there's something fundamentally 571 00:32:47,556 --> 00:32:50,556 Speaker 1: intuitive about it, and I don't mean that necessarily in 572 00:32:50,596 --> 00:32:53,836 Speaker 1: a good way. That it you know, that we get 573 00:32:53,876 --> 00:32:58,236 Speaker 1: the fact that we call the Hudson River the Hudson River, 574 00:32:58,356 --> 00:33:03,716 Speaker 1: even though the Hudson River is at every second changing. 575 00:33:04,196 --> 00:33:06,916 Speaker 1: It's like, you know, the water's up, the same boats 576 00:33:07,076 --> 00:33:08,916 Speaker 1: go down at you know, it's never that you never 577 00:33:08,956 --> 00:33:11,436 Speaker 1: look the same way twice ever. But we continue to 578 00:33:11,476 --> 00:33:14,236 Speaker 1: call it the Hudson River. But it strikes me that 579 00:33:14,276 --> 00:33:17,796 Speaker 1: in a political context, as kind of thinking can be 580 00:33:17,916 --> 00:33:22,076 Speaker 1: used to perpetuate inequality and injustice. 581 00:33:22,836 --> 00:33:23,356 Speaker 3: Interesting. 582 00:33:24,356 --> 00:33:27,276 Speaker 1: For example, what is the what is an aristocracy but 583 00:33:27,396 --> 00:33:32,916 Speaker 1: a political formulation of the spatial temporal continuity principle? 584 00:33:33,956 --> 00:33:34,196 Speaker 6: Right? 585 00:33:34,356 --> 00:33:36,716 Speaker 3: It is something like that, And it's it's. 586 00:33:36,556 --> 00:33:40,916 Speaker 1: Troubling it precisely that way, because they're saying circumstances can change, 587 00:33:41,236 --> 00:33:44,116 Speaker 1: and the holders of the privilege can change. The father 588 00:33:44,196 --> 00:33:47,716 Speaker 1: can die and the son can inherit the peerage. But 589 00:33:47,796 --> 00:33:52,196 Speaker 1: the peerage remains intact. It has this quality that's independent 590 00:33:52,316 --> 00:33:54,476 Speaker 1: of all that's going around it. 591 00:33:54,516 --> 00:33:58,996 Speaker 3: And that's yes, where the where the identity of the 592 00:33:59,036 --> 00:34:03,876 Speaker 3: object confers, for example, a right or a title, and 593 00:34:03,916 --> 00:34:07,636 Speaker 3: if it's considered to be held intact and in full 594 00:34:08,196 --> 00:34:12,076 Speaker 3: by whoever holds it at any one time, then basically 595 00:34:12,716 --> 00:34:17,436 Speaker 3: that removes change altogether from the realm of what matters 596 00:34:17,436 --> 00:34:22,796 Speaker 3: as far as as ownership is concerned. Yes, so the 597 00:34:22,836 --> 00:34:26,436 Speaker 3: seventeenth great grandson of the peer still has all of 598 00:34:26,476 --> 00:34:30,476 Speaker 3: the rights and privileges, even though so far removed from 599 00:34:31,036 --> 00:34:34,316 Speaker 3: the rights and privileges as they attached to the original 600 00:34:34,916 --> 00:34:39,716 Speaker 3: holder of them. So there is something that is unfair 601 00:34:39,756 --> 00:34:44,756 Speaker 3: and anti egalitarian about the way this principle can get applied. 602 00:34:48,716 --> 00:34:53,956 Speaker 1: So the golf clubs of Los Angeles are essentially aristocratic 603 00:34:53,996 --> 00:35:03,396 Speaker 1: institutions exactly. I think someone needs to tell Brimwood and 604 00:35:03,516 --> 00:35:06,316 Speaker 1: La Country Club and all the others that if they 605 00:35:06,356 --> 00:35:10,316 Speaker 1: want to hold spatio temporal continuity villages, they have to 606 00:35:10,356 --> 00:35:14,836 Speaker 1: give something back. Take down your barbed wire. Your members 607 00:35:14,876 --> 00:35:18,356 Speaker 1: can play golf on weekdays, but evenings and weekends belong 608 00:35:18,476 --> 00:35:22,676 Speaker 1: to the ordinary taxpayers of Los Angeles. Let them come 609 00:35:22,716 --> 00:35:25,636 Speaker 1: and enjoy the greens and fairways that they've been subsidizing 610 00:35:25,716 --> 00:35:29,476 Speaker 1: for generations. It's worth remembering, by the way, that the 611 00:35:29,516 --> 00:35:32,276 Speaker 1: most famous golf course in the world, the home of golf, 612 00:35:32,356 --> 00:35:35,316 Speaker 1: Saint Andrews in Scotland, is open to the general public 613 00:35:35,356 --> 00:35:39,996 Speaker 1: on Sundays. In Toronto, the fanciest golf club is Rosedale 614 00:35:39,996 --> 00:35:42,796 Speaker 1: Country Club, right in the middle of the city, but 615 00:35:42,836 --> 00:35:46,156 Speaker 1: the golf course is only private in summer. The rest 616 00:35:46,196 --> 00:35:48,476 Speaker 1: of the time it's open to anyone who wants to 617 00:35:48,476 --> 00:35:50,916 Speaker 1: go for a walk, or play frisbee, or go cross 618 00:35:50,956 --> 00:35:55,156 Speaker 1: country skiing. Canada and the United Kingdom, I would point out, 619 00:35:55,436 --> 00:35:59,236 Speaker 1: are governed by a queen. They have an actual aristocracy, 620 00:35:59,876 --> 00:36:02,316 Speaker 1: but somehow they figured out a way to have their 621 00:36:02,396 --> 00:36:06,556 Speaker 1: fancy golf courses be democratic. It's only on the corner 622 00:36:06,596 --> 00:36:09,756 Speaker 1: of San Vicente and Berlin Game that golf remains an 623 00:36:09,796 --> 00:36:11,996 Speaker 1: instrument of medieval privilege. 624 00:36:12,676 --> 00:36:16,916 Speaker 5: I mean, when you fly over La the green space 625 00:36:16,956 --> 00:36:19,956 Speaker 5: that you see is cemeteries and golf courses, and golf 626 00:36:19,956 --> 00:36:22,676 Speaker 5: courses you don't see parks. We don't have a park 627 00:36:22,916 --> 00:36:26,556 Speaker 5: like say San Francisco's Golden Gate Park or New York's 628 00:36:26,596 --> 00:36:27,836 Speaker 5: Central Park Central Park. 629 00:36:28,476 --> 00:36:30,676 Speaker 1: Day Zac and I are standing outside the barbed wire 630 00:36:30,756 --> 00:36:34,636 Speaker 1: or Brentwood Country Club, peering through a fence. We're trying 631 00:36:34,636 --> 00:36:37,236 Speaker 1: to spot one of the privileged few permitted a walk 632 00:36:37,276 --> 00:36:38,516 Speaker 1: in the park on the west side of. 633 00:36:38,596 --> 00:36:42,756 Speaker 5: La I see one, guy, I see one. 634 00:36:44,436 --> 00:36:47,236 Speaker 1: That's unbelievable. It's a Saturday afternoon. Sun is now coming 635 00:36:47,276 --> 00:36:51,716 Speaker 1: out yep. Like right now, we're standing on the running 636 00:36:51,796 --> 00:36:55,476 Speaker 1: track and there's someone running up there. Now, there are 637 00:36:55,516 --> 00:36:59,276 Speaker 1: more people on this narrow dirt track than there are 638 00:36:59,876 --> 00:37:02,876 Speaker 1: typically on the golf course. See if you can still 639 00:37:02,916 --> 00:37:07,676 Speaker 1: see any kind of I'm still looking for a golfer. 640 00:37:08,596 --> 00:37:10,356 Speaker 5: I'm not. Oh, I see one. 641 00:37:10,516 --> 00:37:11,116 Speaker 1: Do you see one? 642 00:37:11,236 --> 00:37:11,396 Speaker 5: Yeah? 643 00:37:12,196 --> 00:37:13,196 Speaker 6: Oh, that's very exciting. 644 00:37:13,476 --> 00:37:21,516 Speaker 1: Yeah, next time, I'm climbing the fence. Maybe we all should. 645 00:37:27,076 --> 00:37:32,076 Speaker 1: That episode dropped on June fifteenth, twenty seventeen, ten years later, 646 00:37:32,236 --> 00:37:35,916 Speaker 1: almost to the month. One of Audrin Nazarian's staffers comes 647 00:37:35,916 --> 00:37:38,956 Speaker 1: to him and says, you should listen. So he does. 648 00:37:39,996 --> 00:37:49,476 Speaker 1: When we come back, all hell breaks loose Adrin Nazarian. 649 00:37:49,676 --> 00:37:52,636 Speaker 1: It turns out had for a long time asked himself 650 00:37:52,676 --> 00:37:55,876 Speaker 1: the same question I asked myself whenever I went to 651 00:37:55,916 --> 00:37:59,676 Speaker 1: Los Angeles, which is, how on earth do these massive 652 00:37:59,676 --> 00:38:02,916 Speaker 1: golf courses on some of the most expensive land in 653 00:38:02,956 --> 00:38:07,276 Speaker 1: the world afford their property taxes? And after listening to 654 00:38:07,316 --> 00:38:11,036 Speaker 1: that episode from twenty seventeen, he finally had his answer, 655 00:38:11,796 --> 00:38:16,716 Speaker 1: because basically, they don't pay property taxes. The six major 656 00:38:16,836 --> 00:38:22,196 Speaker 1: LA country clubs sit on land worth conservatively fifteen billion dollars. 657 00:38:22,636 --> 00:38:24,836 Speaker 1: You know how much they pay in property taxes in 658 00:38:24,876 --> 00:38:30,036 Speaker 1: a typical year, less than a million dollars. And thus enlightened, 659 00:38:30,316 --> 00:38:36,436 Speaker 1: he decided to act and introduce a ballot proposition. So 660 00:38:36,476 --> 00:38:40,436 Speaker 1: tell me, what does your proposal? Tell me exactly what 661 00:38:40,476 --> 00:38:43,876 Speaker 1: your proposal says how you would like to address this problem. 662 00:38:44,356 --> 00:38:48,836 Speaker 4: The proposal was meant to be a conversation starter to 663 00:38:49,116 --> 00:38:53,356 Speaker 4: force this issue. So what my team came up with 664 00:38:53,756 --> 00:38:59,156 Speaker 4: was to look at maybe a four dollars proposal per 665 00:38:59,316 --> 00:39:07,436 Speaker 4: square foot parcel tax, which does not contradict the state's Prop. 666 00:39:07,516 --> 00:39:13,156 Speaker 4: Thirteen requirement. It's a local city based parcel tax, and 667 00:39:13,436 --> 00:39:16,556 Speaker 4: the goal of the four dollars per square foot was 668 00:39:16,676 --> 00:39:21,596 Speaker 4: to make it almost commensurate to what a one percent 669 00:39:22,276 --> 00:39:28,356 Speaker 4: property tax valuation for best and highest use would have produced. 670 00:39:29,036 --> 00:39:31,796 Speaker 1: So back of the envelope calculation, what would a club 671 00:39:32,356 --> 00:39:36,796 Speaker 1: like LA Country Club be paying every year under your proposal? 672 00:39:38,556 --> 00:39:42,556 Speaker 4: It depends. Oh, if it was at four dollars, I 673 00:39:42,636 --> 00:39:44,476 Speaker 4: don't even know if they would be able to pay. 674 00:39:44,516 --> 00:39:45,396 Speaker 4: They would shut down. 675 00:39:45,676 --> 00:39:50,236 Speaker 1: Yeah, let's do the math. The Los Angeles Country Club, 676 00:39:50,356 --> 00:39:54,876 Speaker 1: the laccs, it's called the fanciest and most exclusive of 677 00:39:54,916 --> 00:39:58,756 Speaker 1: all Los Angeles country clubs, occupies roughly three hundred and 678 00:39:58,836 --> 00:40:03,156 Speaker 1: twenty five acres that's just over fourteen million square feet. 679 00:40:03,716 --> 00:40:06,476 Speaker 1: A four dollars a square foot tax comes to roughly 680 00:40:06,556 --> 00:40:10,996 Speaker 1: fifty five million dollars a year in proper taxes. Right now, 681 00:40:11,316 --> 00:40:15,076 Speaker 1: membership dues for the LACC total somewhere around twenty million 682 00:40:15,156 --> 00:40:18,836 Speaker 1: dollars a year. Under the Nazarian ballot proposal, that have 683 00:40:18,916 --> 00:40:23,556 Speaker 1: to triple their fees just to pay their property taxes. Now, 684 00:40:23,596 --> 00:40:26,716 Speaker 1: technically at all the millionaires and millionaires who belong to 685 00:40:26,756 --> 00:40:31,436 Speaker 1: the LA Country Club afford that, sure, But everything we 686 00:40:31,476 --> 00:40:34,076 Speaker 1: know about very rich people is that they don't like 687 00:40:34,156 --> 00:40:37,516 Speaker 1: to pay market rates for things they've previously got for free. 688 00:40:38,076 --> 00:40:41,396 Speaker 1: For the well heeled golfers of Beverly Hills, then this 689 00:40:42,076 --> 00:40:46,836 Speaker 1: is existential. In May, Nasarian put his proposal on the 690 00:40:46,876 --> 00:40:51,396 Speaker 1: ballot for November. Let the voters of Los Angeles decide, 691 00:40:51,676 --> 00:40:53,756 Speaker 1: did you ever? You must have done polling. 692 00:40:54,116 --> 00:40:57,036 Speaker 4: We did do polling because we wanted to not just 693 00:40:57,076 --> 00:41:01,356 Speaker 4: make assumptions and understand that we actually have something that 694 00:41:01,396 --> 00:41:07,236 Speaker 4: the public would feel strongly about. And in our initial 695 00:41:07,316 --> 00:41:12,396 Speaker 4: polling from a reputable polster, we saw a sixty four 696 00:41:12,476 --> 00:41:15,556 Speaker 4: percent approval rating. So it's pretty strong. 697 00:41:15,396 --> 00:41:17,356 Speaker 1: Oh you, so that these guys had a reason to 698 00:41:17,396 --> 00:41:17,876 Speaker 1: be scared. 699 00:41:19,676 --> 00:41:23,396 Speaker 4: There Again, these are all folks that are part of 700 00:41:23,436 --> 00:41:27,636 Speaker 4: the fabric of the city, so they understand that something 701 00:41:27,836 --> 00:41:32,596 Speaker 4: like this would be seen as a populist issue and 702 00:41:33,076 --> 00:41:36,276 Speaker 4: would garner quite a bit of support. They understand that. 703 00:41:37,636 --> 00:41:41,396 Speaker 1: The country clubs freaked out. Someone I'm not going to 704 00:41:41,396 --> 00:41:44,956 Speaker 1: say who, who is a member of the LACC, forwarded 705 00:41:44,996 --> 00:41:47,236 Speaker 1: me an email sent to him by the club's board 706 00:41:47,236 --> 00:41:50,716 Speaker 1: of directors. Here's what it said. We want you to 707 00:41:50,796 --> 00:41:54,316 Speaker 1: know that we are taking this matter very seriously. We 708 00:41:54,356 --> 00:41:56,716 Speaker 1: are confident that we have the right people with the 709 00:41:56,796 --> 00:42:00,236 Speaker 1: right experience engaged to address this issue on our collective behalf. 710 00:42:01,036 --> 00:42:04,036 Speaker 1: While we won't get into specific details of our approach 711 00:42:04,436 --> 00:42:08,516 Speaker 1: in a broadly distributed communication, please be assured that we 712 00:42:08,596 --> 00:42:14,156 Speaker 1: are active and thoughtfully engaged. In case you're wondering, these 713 00:42:14,156 --> 00:42:17,476 Speaker 1: are all rich people euphemisms for we're going to the 714 00:42:17,516 --> 00:42:21,236 Speaker 1: mattresses on this one. An entire busload of white shoe 715 00:42:21,316 --> 00:42:25,036 Speaker 1: lawyers just pulled up downstairs. We've locked the gates. We've 716 00:42:25,076 --> 00:42:28,116 Speaker 1: stocked up, but enough wagu beef and forty years single 717 00:42:28,196 --> 00:42:33,356 Speaker 1: malt to fortify us until November. But then the email continues. 718 00:42:34,076 --> 00:42:38,476 Speaker 1: In the meantime, if you have particular expertise, insight, or 719 00:42:38,716 --> 00:42:42,316 Speaker 1: relationships that you believe may be relevant to the situation, 720 00:42:42,916 --> 00:42:45,596 Speaker 1: we encourage you to reach out to our general manager, 721 00:42:47,076 --> 00:42:52,076 Speaker 1: which is rich people euphemism for we're totally panicking right now. 722 00:42:52,716 --> 00:42:56,356 Speaker 1: We wish we'd said yes to that membership application twenty 723 00:42:56,436 --> 00:43:00,996 Speaker 1: years ago from Donald Trump. So the clubs get together 724 00:43:01,396 --> 00:43:04,796 Speaker 1: tell Nazarian they want to negotiate. He puts the ballot 725 00:43:04,836 --> 00:43:08,076 Speaker 1: measure on hold. But then the second fanciest club in 726 00:43:08,116 --> 00:43:11,356 Speaker 1: the city, Country Club, says no, we're going to fight. 727 00:43:12,116 --> 00:43:14,436 Speaker 1: I have to confess that I didn't know there was 728 00:43:14,476 --> 00:43:17,356 Speaker 1: such a thing as a society of golf historians. But 729 00:43:17,436 --> 00:43:20,876 Speaker 1: there is, and they wait in. What the city of 730 00:43:20,956 --> 00:43:24,716 Speaker 1: Los Angeles seems to overlook is that the preservation of 731 00:43:24,796 --> 00:43:27,836 Speaker 1: these clubs should be viewed in much the same way 732 00:43:28,316 --> 00:43:31,996 Speaker 1: we preserve great works of art. Their importance is no 733 00:43:32,116 --> 00:43:36,076 Speaker 1: less significant than a Frank Lloyd write home or the 734 00:43:36,196 --> 00:43:40,676 Speaker 1: value of a Picasso painting. The artists behind them are 735 00:43:40,676 --> 00:43:45,556 Speaker 1: equally important, and their canvas is a living, breathing landscape 736 00:43:45,756 --> 00:43:52,156 Speaker 1: that requires stewardship, investment, and at times thoughtful restoration. The 737 00:43:52,196 --> 00:43:55,476 Speaker 1: tabloids get wind of the story. It makes page six. 738 00:43:55,676 --> 00:43:59,396 Speaker 1: Twitter blows up. My friend emails me again. They are 739 00:43:59,436 --> 00:44:04,156 Speaker 1: throwing their nine irons at me at the LACC. It's chaos. 740 00:44:04,476 --> 00:44:08,156 Speaker 1: It's rich white guy on rich white guy violence. But 741 00:44:08,196 --> 00:44:10,156 Speaker 1: play with me for a moment. Last time I was 742 00:44:10,196 --> 00:44:14,836 Speaker 1: in La I went to the top of I wanted 743 00:44:14,836 --> 00:44:18,236 Speaker 1: to see La Country Club from high up. So I 744 00:44:18,276 --> 00:44:21,916 Speaker 1: went to the top of the Waldorf, that little restaurant there, 745 00:44:21,956 --> 00:44:26,436 Speaker 1: and looked down and said, this is an astonishing piece 746 00:44:26,436 --> 00:44:29,516 Speaker 1: of property. And if they came back to you, to 747 00:44:29,636 --> 00:44:31,756 Speaker 1: suppose I was thinking, what all the things? I suppose 748 00:44:31,796 --> 00:44:33,636 Speaker 1: they came back and said, all right, they have two 749 00:44:33,676 --> 00:44:36,676 Speaker 1: parcels on either side of Wiltshire, right, am I? Right? 750 00:44:37,316 --> 00:44:37,596 Speaker 4: Yes? 751 00:44:37,716 --> 00:44:42,516 Speaker 1: What if they said, okay, we'll give you one of 752 00:44:42,516 --> 00:44:44,636 Speaker 1: those parcels for a park if you let us keep 753 00:44:44,676 --> 00:44:45,996 Speaker 1: the other for our country club. 754 00:44:47,236 --> 00:44:55,356 Speaker 4: Who says no, Well, I like how you're thinking, and 755 00:44:55,436 --> 00:44:58,316 Speaker 4: if this is a precursor to how the negotiations go, 756 00:44:58,516 --> 00:45:00,836 Speaker 4: then that's a good place to be. 757 00:45:01,156 --> 00:45:03,596 Speaker 1: Why you're doing this negotiation kind of make a personal request. 758 00:45:05,236 --> 00:45:05,556 Speaker 4: Please. 759 00:45:07,916 --> 00:45:10,596 Speaker 1: The whole I think experience in the in the podcast, 760 00:45:11,036 --> 00:45:12,756 Speaker 1: the whole thing that got me going on this is 761 00:45:12,796 --> 00:45:14,876 Speaker 1: I would stay with a friend of mine in Brentwood 762 00:45:15,716 --> 00:45:18,836 Speaker 1: and go running around the Breadwood country Club on that 763 00:45:18,956 --> 00:45:24,516 Speaker 1: little narrow, rocky gravel path that is between the fence 764 00:45:25,236 --> 00:45:28,436 Speaker 1: of the Red Country Club and the street. And I 765 00:45:28,436 --> 00:45:32,116 Speaker 1: would always say, they have whatever three hundred acres and 766 00:45:32,156 --> 00:45:33,956 Speaker 1: there's no one on there three hundred acres and I'm 767 00:45:33,996 --> 00:45:36,996 Speaker 1: being forced to run this narrow track all I want. 768 00:45:37,276 --> 00:45:39,996 Speaker 1: Can they just move their fence, Audrey? Could they just 769 00:45:40,076 --> 00:45:43,996 Speaker 1: move their fence in three feet so that the runners 770 00:45:44,436 --> 00:45:47,116 Speaker 1: of Brentwood would have a nice path as opposed to 771 00:45:47,196 --> 00:45:50,636 Speaker 1: running on like a thig of rocks. Can you make it? 772 00:45:50,756 --> 00:45:52,996 Speaker 1: Just say just say Malcolm wants you to move your 773 00:45:52,996 --> 00:45:54,836 Speaker 1: fence in three feet and we can talk. 774 00:45:58,436 --> 00:46:01,396 Speaker 4: But it couldn't my favorite. We'll name it the Malcolm Path. 775 00:46:02,756 --> 00:46:05,836 Speaker 1: So that's where we are, dear listeners, A revolt on 776 00:46:05,876 --> 00:46:09,476 Speaker 1: the verdant greens of Los Angeles, sparked by yours truly 777 00:46:10,036 --> 00:46:12,916 Speaker 1: in combination with a city council member who is now 778 00:46:12,956 --> 00:46:17,236 Speaker 1: my hero. And next time you're in Los Angeles and 779 00:46:17,356 --> 00:46:20,076 Speaker 1: happen to drive by any of those fancy golf clubs 780 00:46:20,556 --> 00:46:27,116 Speaker 1: Lacc bel Air, Brentwood, Hilcrest, Lakeside, lower your window, raise 781 00:46:27,156 --> 00:46:30,876 Speaker 1: your middle finger, honk your horn, and shout out. I 782 00:46:31,036 --> 00:46:37,156 Speaker 1: stand with Babel and mis Arian mother. And if anyone 783 00:46:37,236 --> 00:46:40,596 Speaker 1: ever tells you the truth cannot be spoken to power, 784 00:46:41,596 --> 00:46:46,436 Speaker 1: you should answer, actually, that's not true. May I direct 785 00:46:46,476 --> 00:46:59,196 Speaker 1: you to Season two, Episode ten of Revisionist History. Revisionist 786 00:46:59,276 --> 00:47:01,996 Speaker 1: History is produced by Nina Bird Lawrence, Lucy Sullivan, and 787 00:47:02,076 --> 00:47:06,356 Speaker 1: Ben the Daphaffrey. Our editor is Karen Hikerji. Our executive 788 00:47:06,396 --> 00:47:09,436 Speaker 1: producer is Jacob Smith. Engineering by Nina Bird law Lawrence. 789 00:47:09,916 --> 00:47:13,516 Speaker 1: Special thanks to the newest member of our team, Isaac Scribner. 790 00:47:14,356 --> 00:47:17,116 Speaker 1: An extra special thanks to the people who worked on 791 00:47:17,356 --> 00:47:21,396 Speaker 1: the original A Good Walk Spoiled Meil LaBelle, Julia Barton, 792 00:47:21,756 --> 00:47:26,676 Speaker 1: Camille Baptiste and Stephanie Daniel. Original music by Luis Gerra, 793 00:47:27,156 --> 00:47:32,756 Speaker 1: Sound design and mastering by Marcelo di'alivera. I'm Malcolm Gladwell.