SCRAMBLE: BEST OF: New Report: Minnesotans could pay billions a year if the state doesn’t adapt to climate change???

Summary

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Garage Logic "SCRAMBLE: BEST OF: New Report: Minnesotans could pay billions a year if the state doesn’t adapt to climate change???"

Date: April 2, 2026
Host: Chris Reivers
Co-host: Mike Frattalone
Network: Gamut Podcast Network

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Episode Overview

This episode of Garage Logic's Weekly Scramble takes on a recent state report claiming Minnesotans could face $20–57 billion in annual costs if the state doesn't adapt to climate change. Hosts Chris Reivers and Mike Frattalone bring their hallmark irreverence and skepticism to the topic, blending local critique with national political commentary. Beyond climate debates, they tackle vehicle registration fees, tax migration, "equity" programming in city government, and shifts in race relations, all woven with humor and personal anecdotes aimed at the Garage Logic core audience.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Climate Change Adaptation Cost Report (03:35–14:19)

• Main Article: Chris reads from a Minneapolis Star Tribune article summarizing a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency report: Without adaptation, Minnesota could pay up to $20 billion/year (increasing to $57 billion by 2070); investing $2.5–$4.1 billion annually to adapt is presented as a cost-saving measure.
  • Mike's reaction: Deep skepticism about both the report's accuracy and the intentions behind it.
  • [05:10] Mike: "First of all, the government doesn't shoulder any cost. It's all taxpayers dollars... The taxpayer pays for it. Get that straight."
• Doubts on Climate Science: Both hosts question the objectivity of experts and reports in the climate change field, pointing out the financial incentives for researchers and agencies ("put profit into something, you get more of that" – 07:28).
  • Cherry-picked data and misleading graphics are critiqued (e.g., "hockey stick graph").
• Every Issue = Climate Issue: The hosts joke about every media story being tied back to climate change, even homelessness (11:19).
• Minnesota Warmer = Net Positive? Mike notes that warmer weather might actually benefit Minnesota, in contrast to Florida or Arizona (11:58), but jokes that it could lead to more crime—"There's a reason why there's very little crime between, you know, let's say Thanksgiving to March 1st, because it's bleeping cold outside." (12:04)

2. Policy Skepticism and the Incentive to Perpetuate Problems (13:40–14:34)

• Government Spending & Scams: Mike warns that investing billions into adaptation creates more bureaucracy and potential for fraud, referencing Minnesota's recent fraud scandals.
• Regional Impacts: Questions about how Minnesota's adaptation would affect neighboring states—"do we put up some kind of wall... to block the climate from leaving Minnesota?" (14:57)
• Global Perspective: Both note that Minnesota's actions would have minuscule impact as long as nations like China and India aren’t participating (15:21).

3. Minnesota Vehicle Tab Fees & Tax Policy (15:40–27:17)

• Failed Legislation: The hosts discuss a failed bill aimed at lowering Minnesota's expensive vehicle tab fees.
  • Sticker Shock: Mike details how the slow depreciation schedule creates artificially high valuations—e.g., first-year fees of over $3,000 for a $200,000 Bentley (17:57).
  • Comparisons with Wisconsin: Wisconsin fees for standard vehicles are a flat $85 (19:35).
• Migration & Taxpayer Exit: Fee and tax increases are said to drive high earners and businesses out of Minnesota.

4. Tax Flight: The New York Example (21:04–25:58)

• Governor Kathy Hochul’s Comments: The hosts play clips of Hochul first telling wealthy New Yorkers to leave, then later pleading for their return due to an eroded tax base.
  • [23:16] Mike: "'They are captives to our state.' What an arrogant witch."
• Prediction: Chris warns that exit taxes will soon be implemented in high-tax states like California, New York, Illinois, and potentially Minnesota (23:53–24:32).
• Virtue Signaling and Self-Interest: Mark Zuckerberg cited as an example of a high-profile progressive who left for Florida after California’s wealth tax (25:26).

5. Safety Nets and Social Policy Balance (26:02–27:17)

• Mike affirms that social safety nets are necessary but believes government can't become a "for profit center” by taxing excessively.
• "We need to do more for people who truly can't do anything and less for people who can do something about it." (26:14)
• Fear expressed about Minnesota potentially following New York/California’s path.

6. Equity in Local Government – The Richfield Case (28:51–33:40)

• Email from a Listener: The "mole" shares about Richfield's equity coordinator planning a BIPOC-only healing event, earning six figures, and explicitly excluding white staff in a citywide email.
• Industry in Division: Both opine that there’s now a financial incentive in maintaining racial divisions.
  • Charles Barkley Quote: "There's too many people making a ton of money off of [racial tension] and they want us to hate each other.” (32:52)
  • "When there's money in racism, you get more racism... just damn sad." (33:06)
• Personal Reflection: Mike laments how race relations seemed less divisive before and ties heightened tension to the proliferation of jobs and bureaucracy around diversity initiatives (32:36).

7. Device Addiction & Parenting (35:10–35:53)

• Chris shares his hesitance about allowing his sons to have smartphones, wanting to preserve their sense of independence and purpose (35:24).
• A generational lament on the pervasiveness of technology addiction among kids (35:46).

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• (05:10) Mike: "The government doesn't have money, so they don't get to shoulder shit. The taxpayer pays for it."
• (07:19) Chris: "It's framing this as if this is a cost-saving measure by wasting $4 billion of taxpayer money."
• (07:28) Mike: "When you put profit into something, you get more of that. So when you put profit into discovering climate change, you get more discoveries of climate change."
• (10:48) Mike: "Figures lie and liars figure, right? You throw a stat out there and anybody can make any stat."
• (12:04) Chris: "There's a reason why there's very little crime between, you know, let's say Thanksgiving to March 1st, because it's bleeping cold outside."
• (17:58) Mike: “$3,150 for tabs for the first year. And I don’t. That’s not a nebulous number that happens on my taxes. That is a number that I have to pay for. That’s when I buy the car, right?”
• (23:16) Mike (on Hochul): "They are captives to our state. What an arrogant witch."
• (26:14) Mike: "We need to do more for people who truly can't do anything and less for people who can do something about it."
• (32:52) Charles Barkley (via Chris): "The industry is alive for one reason. There's too many people making a ton of money off of it and they want us to hate each other."
• (33:06) Mike: "When there's money in racism, you get more racism, period."
• (35:24) Chris (on devices): "I want them to create their own sense of being, sense of purpose, sense of independence. And I don't want them to have to be committed to... social media is the only thing that matters."

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:35: Introduction of the climate adaptation cost report
• 05:10: Discussion on "government money" and taxpayer burden
• 07:28: Incentivizing climate research; profit motives and skepticism
• 11:19: Media linking every issue to climate change
• 12:04: Link between weather, crime rates, and climate adaptation
• 17:58: Breakdown of tab fee mathematics and public reaction
• 21:19: Governor Kathy Hochul’s statements on wealthy New Yorkers; tax migration
• 23:53: Prediction of "departure tax" policies
• 26:14: Taking a nuanced view on safety nets and government excess
• 28:58: Richfield "BIPOC-only event" and critique of DEI industry
• 32:52: Charles Barkley quote on the business of division
• 35:24: Parental fears regarding device addiction and social media

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Tone and Language

The episode follows the Garage Logic tradition of sarcastic, down-to-earth, and at times exasperated commentary. Both hosts blend skepticism, humor, and practical concerns with frank, sometimes acerbic analysis of government, media, and social trends.

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Summary Takeaway

Through a local lens, the hosts dissect the climate adaptation report as a vehicle for government spending, matched with broader disapproval of high taxation, bureaucratic bloat, and perceived incentivization of social division. While grounded in Minnesota specifics, the conversation extends to national narratives of tax migration, progressive overreach, and the unintended consequences of well-intentioned policies—all with the relatable, gumption-filled banter that defines Garage Logic.

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Transcript

[Michael Reivers]

They're sticky jicama ribs.

[Chris Reivers]

I need to get them every time. The lemongrass chicken banh mi. They have this mushroom shawarma.

[Michael Reivers]

The Vietnamese beef stew.

[Guest or Contributor]

You gotta try their pineapple habanero salsa.

[Chris Reivers]

Your table is ready.

[Narrator or Announcer]

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[Chris Reivers]

Minnesota, your table is ready.

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[Chris Reivers]

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[Narrator or Announcer]

This is the weekly Scramble, a place where we chat about life over a cold one or two. It's time to belly up to the pod with Mike Fradaloni and your host, Chris Reavers.

[Chris Reivers]

That's right. It's time for the Weekly Scramble podcast. My name is Chris Reivers. With me as always, his name is Mike Frattalone. Hello, Michael.

[Michael Reivers]

How you doing, Reavers?

[Chris Reivers]

I'm doing okay. There's a few things that a few burrs in my saddle, so to speak. And you know, I try really hard on our show to try to avoid government talk as much as possible.

[Michael Reivers]

Sure.

[Chris Reivers]

But this is unavoidable because I don't. There's several things I'd like to talk that has developed basically within the last 24 to 48 hours here locally. And it's just one more reason why people just say bleep this bleep and state. And I hate saying that because you love this. You've lived here your entire life.

[Michael Reivers]

Entire life.

[Chris Reivers]

I have lived here my entire life. My kids have lived here their entire life. And it's just. It pains me that this state keeps giving me another reason, another reason, another reason and another reason.

[Michael Reivers]

What they do now.

[Chris Reivers]

Well, let's head to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. You know that's the newspaper of your state of Minnesota. Oh, you know what? I forgot. I opened it up in the wrong browser. Because if I do it this way,

[Michael Reivers]

then pop ups happen. You can't just read it for free.

[Chris Reivers]

No, because I have the logins saved on this particular web browser.

[Michael Reivers]

Because you pay for that.

[Chris Reivers]

I do not. The station does. The station does. Yes. You ready for this, Michael? The writer of this particular piece is Eleanor Hildebrand. Lover, Eleanor. Thank you, Eleanor. Beautiful picture of the Minneapolis skyline along Bidet Makaska. Couple of families off for a walk.

[Michael Reivers]

One of them is Lake Calhoun, if I'm not mistaken.

[Chris Reivers]

Correct. One of them is even pushing a stroller. It's a beautiful picture. Are you ready?

[Michael Reivers]

I am.

[Chris Reivers]

Minnesotans could pay upward of $20 billion every year in a few decades if the state doesn't adapt to climate change, according to a new study from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The legislature mandated report, which was released on Monday, says the costs of not adapting to the warming climate are higher than if the state began to make necessary changes. Minnesota has seen heavier rainfall, smokier air and warmer summers in recent years as a result of climate change, according to the report. I got you taken care of. We don't know that investing in adaptation reduces costly risk to the state and its residents, the report said. If the state invests more in climate projects, it could cost 2.5 billion to 4.1 billion annually, considerably less than what the long term negative effects are expected to cost Minnesota. Expenses for failure to adopt could balloon up to 57 billion by 2070. The evidence from this report supports taking action on climate adaptation, the report said, while learning and adjusting as new information becomes available. Jim Newman, who worked on the study as an expert in climate change impacts. Newman, okay, that's a hell of a thing to put on your business card, said the government won't shoulder the cost alone. These are going to fall on governments, industry and individuals who live in Minnesota, he said someone will have to write a check for this.

[Michael Reivers]

First of all, the government doesn't shoulder any cost dip. It's all taxpayers dollars. The government doesn't have money, so they don't get to shoulder shit. The taxpayer pays for it. Get that straight. I'm sure he's a nice guy.

[Chris Reivers]

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a brand new record. Michael, Fred only got outraged three and a half minutes into the program. I love it.

[Michael Reivers]

Okay, keep insurance premiums.

[Chris Reivers]

The cost of goods are two places individuals will feel the cost. Heidi Rupp, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota who worked on the study, said some of the climate resiliency projects could improve flood mitigation or reduce habitat fragmentation. Adaptation could also help Minnesota meet its emission goals. She said health and well being costs were among the highest the agency found. As the climate warms, air conditioning would be the single largest investment. Well, timeout. Who the bleep doesn't own an air conditioner right now. I digress. Road upgrades which would be needed because of climate related deterioration. Well, okay, timeout again. Anyone driven on Selby right now, Anyone taking Berry street in the last week

[Michael Reivers]

or two, increased warmth. Increased warmth. Worse for asphalt. Or increased cold.

[Chris Reivers]

Well, and as I mentioned, I think a week ago, after we got that massive snow, snowstorm on Sunday into Monday, I know now why they don't plow the streets in St. Paul. That way it packs in all of the potholes you have to deal with so that we don't even notice them.

[Michael Reivers]

Smart.

[Chris Reivers]

I go back to the story now. The study is likely to underestimate both the costs of inaction and the cost of adaptation. The report said. Okay, I can't do that. I can't read any more of this story. So a study came out and said. Let me see if I got this straight. A study came out and said if we don't invest 2.5 to 4 billion annually, it could fail us to the fact that it might cost us 57 billion. So it's framing this as if this is a cost saving measure by wasting $4 billion of taxpayer money.

[Michael Reivers]

Okay, I'm going to make a bold statement. I don't know if climate change is real. I don't know. Nor do you, nor does Joe, nor does anybody.

[Chris Reivers]

I adapt to the Joe Susheray theory and I'm not a sycophant.

[Michael Reivers]

The climate's always changing, always changing, right? I mean, at one point in time we were covered by ice. Here, we're not covered by ice anymore. I get that this is. Some people are perceiving it at an alarming rate. It's warming or changing. I get that. Okay, I'm willing to say that. That's. I'm willing to go ahead and say I don't know the answer to that. What I do know is when you put profit into something, you get more of that. So when put profit into discovering climate change, you get more discoveries of climate change. So all the people that are saying, hey, if we don't do something, it's gonna cost us 50 billion, give us $4 billion. Now, guess what they want? They want the $4 billion. When you listen to people who lose everything on this subject, when they lose their entire livelihoods, those are the people maybe you should believe because they have a reverse incentive. They're getting punished because they're stating something. When people get more money, when they state something, you can't believe them anymore. Remember that hockey stick graph where they showed the warming of the earth?

[Chris Reivers]

Oh, yeah.

[Michael Reivers]

It was a graph that was going and going and going. All of a sudden there was a turn like a hockey stick and just went straight up. And the team that made that, one of the women that made that graph said, well, you can't make cherry pies without picking some cherries. The moment she said that, meaning we grabbed the right data, they didn't include the 60s because 60s were quite cold. Right. They started in the 70s. And she said, you can't make cherry pie without picking cherries, invalidating that whole thing. Well, that had been used to train people like me when I was in school and train people like you. Wow, things are getting warm. It was a complete fabrication of data. But the problem is they were making money producing that graph. And it's all of the people that lose everything is who we have to listen to. And I'm willing to believe. Again, I'm not saying climate change isn't real. I don't know. I can't figure it out. The people who talk so bombastically about it. And I think even Joe had someone on one of the shows that said, well, you know what's happening? It's clear and obvious. And Joe's like, well, what's happening? He's like, I'm not gonna dignify that with an answer. It's cause you can't give an answer.

[Chris Reivers]

There's a local news outlet that's not owned by Hubbard Broadcasting. I'll preface it by saying that has a weather person on it that basically has one of those highlighted segments that's not part of the regular forecast. Right. And it was the warmest winters on record. And it was basically every one of the last six winters was the warmest. Well, then I looked at the graphic and I said, okay, well, that's since 1900. I'm just throwing that out there. And I said, okay, that's interesting because I was just sitting there eating my bowl of cereal and I thought, I'll look that up quick. Well, okay, yes, the graphic that he showed. Sorry, the graphic that they showed was correct, but what they forgot to mention is there was another one that was six years between 1998, from 1992 or whatever. I thought, well, that's kind of misleading. It's not that it wasn't factual. It was just a tad bit misleading.

[Michael Reivers]

Figures. Lie and liars figure, right? You throw a stat out there and anybody can make any stat. Again, I want to preface this.

[Chris Reivers]

I don't know.

[Michael Reivers]

I don't know. I'm really not super worried about it, to tell you the truth. I'm infinitely more worried about AI. It's gonna be inconsequential whether we get a little warmer here in a couple of years.

[Chris Reivers]

So, like, I could say, I bet I am one of the top 5% tallest podcast hosts.

[Michael Reivers]

Yeah, yeah, you could 100% do it.

[Chris Reivers]

And if you remove all the NBA related podcasts, I bet I'm in the top 4%.

[Michael Reivers]

So I was listening to NPR the other day and they were doing a story about homelessness and the host said something. Well, can you tell me how this relates climate change and how people who are homeless are affected by climate change more? I thought, wow, every story, every story has to wind its way back to climate change, Right? And what I think is kind of interesting is in Minnesota, we could be a little bit warmer. That would actually be probably pretty good for us. Florida might not want to be a little warmer. Arizona might not want to be a little warmer. Minnesota might see a net benefit by being 2 degrees warmer.

[Chris Reivers]

You know what else helps benefit when it gets warmer here in the Twin Cities? Crime.

[Michael Reivers]

Crime.

[Chris Reivers]

There's a reason why there's very little crime between, you know, let's say Thanksgiving to March 1st, because it's bleeping cold outside.

[Michael Reivers]

It's too cold to go do crimes.

[Chris Reivers]

But now we just saw it the last handful of weeks. I mean, the amount of shootings that. So it's like, you want to play that game? I'll play that game. Okay. Yeah, it's going to get warm out. And guess what happens? Everyone knows downtown becomes a war zone.

[Michael Reivers]

So you're saying the warmer it gets, the more crime we'll have. That's in direct correlation. Those things do correlate 100%. So you're saying climate change affects crime in Minnesota?

[Chris Reivers]

Yes. If we could make 10 below zero every day of the year. We would have less crime.

[Michael Reivers]

We would have less crime, less money for that study. Yes. I am really a big advocate of having people understand the concept. Whenever you put money behind something, you get more of that thing. Whenever you put money behind homelessness, you get more homeless people because no one wants to lose their job and cure homelessness. It's never gonna happen.

[Chris Reivers]

It's never gonna happen. You know what? We are nuts. And weearnutsmn.com here's the deal, ladies and gentlemen. Take advantage of Nut Madness. It's going on right now through the end of the month. Here's what's really neat about this. Online orders, okay? Check this out. For your orders that are over $25, you get 25% off of that order. If you go to the website wearenutsmn.com that's a huge steal right now. And take advantage of it, you have,

[Michael Reivers]

it's maybe a little too good a deal.

[Chris Reivers]

You actually have less than a week to take advantage. Is it the first next Wednesday?

[Michael Reivers]

Sure.

[Chris Reivers]

Yeah. So take advantage of this. In the last couple of days of Nut Madness going on right now, my favorite are the maple bourbon toffee almonds and I guess the jumbo cashews. It's 1A and 1B. Sometimes, you know, I put one out of the other one. But it's a wonderful, wonderful family owned operation making quality handmade small batch snacks here in the great state of Minnesota. You can find them at Fratelloni's, you can find them at Mac's Hardware, Lunds and Barley's, Cub Foods, Kowalski's Markets, Coburn's. I just was at Coburn's this morning. You can also get them at 700 different quick trip locations. It's been a revelation here with wearenuts and wearenutsmn.com the weekly scramble. We we'll be right back. Let's keep ripping the state, shall we?

[Michael Reivers]

Sure. I want to make this clear again. I just don't know. And anyone who tells you they do know about climate change, see if they have a profit incentive about that. And just because they say they know, they don't necessarily know. It's impossible.

[Chris Reivers]

You're going to throw $4 billion annually at some nonprofit. The state is seeing record numbers of fraud and you're still going to come out and whine about that stuff.

[Michael Reivers]

Let me say this too. If you do these mitig processes in Minnesota, does Wisconsin pay for that? Because they would be the beneficiary of

[Chris Reivers]

a cooler temperature that's true because we're neighboring states, Right.

[Michael Reivers]

Or do we put up some kind of wall, like maybe something trumpesque to block the climate from leaving Minnesota? Ooh, there you go. Interesting.

[Chris Reivers]

Interesting.

[Michael Reivers]

Because, I mean, no matter what we do, and I know they're talking about flood mitigation and that stuff, and that may or may not try to change the temperature, but we can't control the world's temperature, the earth's temperature from Minnesota, no matter how many dollars we give to somebody to scam us.

[Chris Reivers]

And I forget who first phrased this, but it's like, you know, even if, let's just say climate change exists just because we're gonna do everything that we can to offer up everything in our power to help out, China's saying, bleep.

[Michael Reivers]

That you think India cares?

[Guest or Contributor]

No.

[Michael Reivers]

Do you think India cares?

[Chris Reivers]

Let's switch to another thing that I know will get you going.

[Michael Reivers]

This is gonna be a positive story. People using money correctly in the state of Minnesota. I can feel it. Reavers. I'm excited.

[Chris Reivers]

Sorry to break your heart. Okay, let's go to kstp.com Tom Houser retweeted this story after a bill to lower license tab fees failed in the Minnesota House Transportation Committee. The cost is likely. This cost is unlikely. Excuse me to go down anytime soon. In 2023, the legislature increased the tax rate for license tab fees, while at the same time dramatically slowing the rate of depreciation. So you pay a higher rate on an artificially high valuation on your vehicle. There's a bill in the House to lower the license tab tax rate from 1.575% of your vehicle's value to 1.285% while also speeding up the depreciation of your car. Under the bill, in the third year of owning a vehicle, you would pay a tax on 80% of your vehicle's original value instead of 90%. Republicans argued for the bill in the House Transportation committee. What happened two years ago is that by increasing tab fees 22% and changing, changing the appreciation schedule, we have made things incredibly unaffordable for people in Minnesota. That's Representative Patty Anderson of Delwood. However, Democrats say the bill would cost the state hundreds of millions in lost revenue. This is a really great headline bill that shows Republicans are going to be whatever they are trying to sell this week. But the story behind it is that there's a $732 million budget hole that you're creating with this bill. Representative Aaron Kogel, DFL Spring Lake park

[Michael Reivers]

we have to starve the government of money. I love the government. I love the fat with money.

[Chris Reivers]

I love that the argument isn't, hey, we should probably make things a little bit more affordable for people that live in the state to. We're running out of money.

[Michael Reivers]

Yeah, we're running out of money.

[Chris Reivers]

I got an idea.

[Michael Reivers]

Yeah?

[Chris Reivers]

Stop spending money.

[Michael Reivers]

Stop spending money. You should be starving. Okay, let's do a little math. Reverse. Let's say good old Mike wants to go buy himself a Bentley Continental GT.

[Chris Reivers]

Ooh, I bet that's nice.

[Michael Reivers]

200 grand. Let's just say it's 200 grand.

[Chris Reivers]

Jesus. Are you serious?

[Michael Reivers]

Beautiful car. I bet it's absolutely beautiful fast. Just great. So the first year that I buy it, they charge me $3,150 for my

[Chris Reivers]

tabs for the first year, repeat that

[Michael Reivers]

figure, $3,150 for tabs for the first year. And I don't. That's not a nebulous number that happens on my taxes. That is a number that I have to pay for. That's when I buy the car, right? But then I know the value's gonna go dramatically down because the first year after I have a Bentley, instead of being worth 200,000, it goes down to 150,000. And I'm paying 1.57% of that amount. So it's a little cheaper. But they don't let it depreciate like that. Even though the value of a one year old Bentley is not 195,000 or 190,000 because they only let it go down 5% per year. So they will get this second year 1.575% of 190,000, even though the value of the car is now at 150, right? So they're cheating the tax system. And so some guy has to write a check for 3,000 or whatever. The math is roughly $3,000 for tab, a little sticker that goes on the back of your car, right? That's what they're getting. And I think they are making a monstrous, monstrous mistake because I took an example of some big guy buying a $200,000 car, right? But all the people that are going to write a check for $131 are going to be equally as pissed off because they're going to say, why am I spending $131 on my tabs for a 15 year old car that doesn't have the value you think it does? And they have to write. They have to feel the pain of putting it on their credit cards or writing that Check. It's a direct tax that everyone's going to feel. And this is going to absolutely, absolutely backfire on the Democratic side of our

[Chris Reivers]

aisle in the state of Wisconsin. Michael. Card tab fees. Your annual registration for standard automobiles is $85, with additional fees for electric cars of $175, or for hybrid vehicles, an additional $75. Local municipalities or counties may charge extra wheel taxes, and registration is typically valid for one year. Those fees can range anywhere from $15 to an additional $30 for wheel taxes. I would guess that's for semis.

[Michael Reivers]

All I know is that this is the kind of tax that drives people out of Minnesota. Guys like me that are begging Minnesota to not make me go. I was driving by Roselawn Cemetery in Roseville. Right?

[Chris Reivers]

Romantic. Yeah.

[Michael Reivers]

And I was like, I love Roseville. I grew up in that area, and I thought, would I want to be laid to rest in Roselawn Cemetery? It's pretty. They had done some tree trimming. They have it really looking nice, right? I said, well, maybe that's where I want to spend eternity. I don't want to die in this state and hand them a bunch of dollars on death tax. Screw that. Maybe I can be buried here.

[Chris Reivers]

But, you know, the one nice thing, though, is if you are laid to rest here in Roseville or anywhere in the state of Minnesota, you know, your vote still counts.

[Michael Reivers]

That's true. I like what you did. And I could still collect SNAP benefits.

[Chris Reivers]

You could still get SNAP benefits or

[Michael Reivers]

have some kids in autism programs, probably. I mean, I can do all of that stuff. I just. I mean, there has to be a reason.

[Chris Reivers]

Yeah, quit giving me a reason.

[Michael Reivers]

Quit forcing my hand because. Okay. Did you guys talk about Kathy Hochul in New York?

[Chris Reivers]

Oh, my God.

[Michael Reivers]

Did you. Did you guys do that on Garage Logic?

[Chris Reivers]

We did not, but I'm so glad you're mentioning this.

[Michael Reivers]

Let me tell you this story. So a handful of years ago, Kathy

[Chris Reivers]

said, I got the.

[Michael Reivers]

When she raised some taxes, everyone started going down to Palm Beach. You know, everyone from the east coast goes down to the east coast of Florida. And she said, get your asses out of here. We can do it without you. If you're that unloving of our city and our state, we don't even want you here. Right. And you know what a whole bunch of people did is they did it and they moved down there. And then. Do you have the audio of her begging for them to come back?

[Chris Reivers]

Yeah, give me a second. I had it saved. I thought I had it, and I pulled up A wrong link.

[Michael Reivers]

She said, I need you to write me the check. She said, me, right? She's not anything. She doesn't get money. She doesn't have money. She's a governor of a state. She doesn't have money. That's not her money. And when she arrogantly said, you need to write me a check.

[Guest or Contributor]

And we're here to say that the era of Trump and Zeldin and Molinaro, just jump on a bus and head down to Florida where you belong, okay? Get out of town. Get out of town. Because you don't represent our values. You are not New Yorkers. But maybe the first step should be go down to Palm beach and see who you can bring back home. Because our tax base has been around eroded. So I feel soft. We don't have a problem. It is like I have to look at the fact that we are in competition with other states who have less of a tax burden on their corporations and their individuals. And I would say remote work changed everything. There are people who could only work in an office in Manhattan or work in New York state and they were captives to our state. They were going to stay. We saw that that's not the case. I mean, you know, Wall street businesses looking at Texas, they're not going there because they have a nicer governor. I know that for sure. But they're going there because of the tax rate. We have to be smart about this.

[Michael Reivers]

They are captives to our state. What an arrogant witch.

[Chris Reivers]

Isn't that just the biggest F around and find out moment?

[Michael Reivers]

Oh my God. She was saying the quiet part out loud. We need to get their asses back here. Cuz we spend so much money here, we can't afford to do it without high earners.

[Chris Reivers]

I have a prediction on that very thing and I'm glad you brought this up because it's reminding me of this. It's gonna happen in it already. I believe the ball has already begun to roll in the state of California. And you know us here, we're striving to become California, just with worse weather.

[Michael Reivers]

We are the Minneapolis.

[Chris Reivers]

So it's gonna happen in California, it's gonna happen in New York, it's gonna happen here in Minnesota, it'll probably happen in Illinois. I'm just thinking of, I'm going off of Pat Garofalo's list of the states with the largest percentage of wealth migration that has left the state based taxes. They're going to start fining people a departure tax, meaning if your business, for every dollar that your business created here in the state, if you leave, you're still going to owe us, meaning the state, that state, you're still going to owe us 25 cents or whatever the number they come up with is going to be that is 100% going to happen.

[Michael Reivers]

That arrogance of that governor. That arrogance of her saying, give me my money. And she uses the term my. She didn't say it in that, say I need to get those people back. The same people. I said, get out of here. You don't have our values. Right. And everyone said, okay, we're gonna go ahead and believe you and left. And then she had the arrogance and the audacity to say, get your ass back up here. Cause we need to rape you on taxes to pay for other things. And people would be absolutely freaking moronic to go back. We had people that had to work in offices in Midtown. They were captives. You know what captive means that they were in jail. They couldn't go do their big time jobs anyplace else. Now with an Internet connection, they can do it from Puerto Rico, they can do it from Florida, they can do it from Texas, they can do it from Tennessee, they can do it from anywhere. That's not screwing them on taxes.

[Chris Reivers]

When the wealth migration tax, not wealth migration, excuse me, the wealth tax, the billionaire tax, was introduced in California, you know what happened? Guess who sold his place and moved to Florida the very next day? Mark freaking Zuckerberg, one of the biggest lefty. You know what's that's out there? Everyone's got a price. And everyone can shout from the rooftops about what they truly believe in. And everyone can do their virtue signaling until they realize, oh wait, this is gonna affect my bottom line. Well, I'm outta here. And they moved to Florida. And he moved to Florida. That's exactly what happened.

[Michael Reivers]

But okay, again, I straddle the political line, right?

[Chris Reivers]

Yep.

[Michael Reivers]

I think we do need to have social safety nets. I think we need to do a lot of things that cost a lot of money. Right. Not government can't be a for profit center. Everything can't be a zero cost some

[Chris Reivers]

people that need help.

[Michael Reivers]

Absolutely. And we need to increase our safety net standards. Right. We need to do more for people who truly can't do anything and less for people who can do something about it. Right. And to have a governor be so arrogant and so transparent that she wants to steal from people. That state is gone. That city of New York is gone. It is a joke. And I fear. I don't think Minnesota's there yet. Right. I think we could do it. If we. We don't have any billionair left here in Minnesota. We don't have enough cool things here. I can see a billionaire having to stay in New York because their business is in New York. They own a skyscraper in New York. I can see all that stuff. Minnesota, you know, we don't even have that great a weather. No, not that I ever want to leave Minnesota. Please don't raise my tabs. I'm going to spend a fortune on tabs. Reivers. I have a little car collection.

[Chris Reivers]

Yes.

[Michael Reivers]

I'm going to spend an absolute fortune on tabs. And every time I do it, I'm going to just spit in anger. Spit in anger. It's going to be one more straw on the camel's back that drives me down and out of this state. And I don't want to.

[Chris Reivers]

How about Quick Links Golf? Will that calm you down?

[Michael Reivers]

I think that would be kind of great, actually.

[Chris Reivers]

A local golf simulator company. They offer complete installation services and they also sell DIY packages for all of you do it yourselfers that are out there. It's a wonderful local showroom based in Chaska, Minnesota. Multiple technology options that meet all sorts of different price points. And you can meet with them while designing a renovation for your new home, new office or space to ensure the dimensions are right for a fantastic, great simulator room. You can see all sorts of different past projects they've worked on on their website, which is, of course, quicklinksgolf.com once again, quicklinksgolf.com go on that website, see those past projects they've worked on and you can also book your appointment for your free consultation. Once again, it's quicklinksgolf.com the weekly scramble. We will be right back. I have a couple of emails that I want to run by you. And it's funny when you bring up something on the show because not everybody listens that day or even maybe that week, but you do get some interesting feedback. And it's been kind of interesting because now that whenever we switch to podcast form, it is kind of fun to see the reaction and the timeliness of the reaction from listeners that listen to the show all the time. I was mentioning the Millionaire text and a lot of people weighed in on that during gl. But one of the other things that I wanted to bring up was from an anonymous Weekly Scramble listener. That's a frat pack number whose number and name we're not going to give out, but we're going to call this a mole on the inside. Ooh.

[Michael Reivers]

Okay.

[Chris Reivers]

This is an employee from the city of Richfield, Minnesota. You're familiar with Richfield?

[Michael Reivers]

I am.

[Chris Reivers]

I used to live in Richfield.

[Michael Reivers]

Nice.

[Chris Reivers]

It was a good time. It was a nice little time. Reeves. Please don't use my name and please don't reveal my frat pack number. The city of Richfield's equity coordinator, who makes an easy $100,000 a year, sent a citywide email last week. Week for a BIPOC only hearing event.

[Michael Reivers]

BIPOC is what they call it.

[Chris Reivers]

Bipoc. I know. You're right. Healing event. Due to working in a predominantly white workplace. The email explicitly said it was BIPOC only. Again, from the city of Richfield's equity coordinator. Can't make it up. The email was also not allowed to be forward. Wonder what they're afraid of.

[Michael Reivers]

Hmm.

[Chris Reivers]

I've attached screenshots of the email and I verified them. They. Excuse me, are 100% right. I've sent this to a few other places such as Alpha News, and they don't seem interested in it. I am a current employee of the city of Richfield, obviously can't use my name as the nuts in charge will retaliate against me. Hope you can shine some light on this. Here's what's so funny. The segregation, I'm going to call it that of whites are not allowed to attend, came from the city of Richfield's equity coordinator.

[Michael Reivers]

Sure. Okay. Devil's advocate. Oh, all right. Bipoc. Black indigenous people of color. Right? Is that what that stands for?

[Chris Reivers]

Yep.

[Michael Reivers]

Okay. I think I'm right. Okay, let's say there's three guys that work in the city of Ridgefield that are black. They're the three dudes. They're like, well, this feels weird, right? Have you ever worked in. You're a white guy. FYI, Just if you don't know this, if you don't watch us on YouTube. Chris Reivers is Caucasian, non Latino.

[Chris Reivers]

Yep.

[Michael Reivers]

Right. Have you ever worked in a scenario where you are the only white guy?

[Chris Reivers]

Not only, but I did have a. Let's just call it a blue collar workshop. A real diverse job where, yeah, I was probably one of. I was probably in the 10% of people that were. That were solely white Caucasian employees.

[Michael Reivers]

Richfield is trying to have an event just for bipoc, just for people that are bipoc. Wouldn't you say? Hey, we'd like to have an event for people who are bipoc, but we want to have everybody come because we want everyone to know each other. Everyone to say, oh, Jerry's the one black guy that works in Richfield. Right. I know Jerry. Jerry likes football. I like football. Jerry and I. Oh, Jerry. You have a kid on that team. Jerry. Let's go to the next Vikings game. That's how you cure race relations. That's how you, you make people friends.

[Chris Reivers]

But to follow up with your point from earlier, the only thing keeping this industry alive is what? Racial tension.

[Michael Reivers]

Yeah.

[Chris Reivers]

They don't want it to go away.

[Michael Reivers]

Yeah. They can't. Because she or he would lose their job. They would be the equity coordinator.

[Chris Reivers]

The city of Richfield's equity coordinator would now be unemployed.

[Michael Reivers]

You know, I am a really simple minded dude. Dude. And I remember back in the 80s, not really thinking of race relations. And then in the 90s, not really thinking of race relations. And then 2000 and then all the way up to kind of Barack Obama. I really didn't think about it kind of Barack. I was excited to have a black president. Right. I thought that was really cool. I thought that was America. Yeah. That was historic. And I totally get why he won. I get it. Right. That meant a lot for me, to me for him to win too. Didn't love his politics in all cases, but great historic event. Yeah. Like this is it. And then after that I feel like, what's going on? Why are we getting further away from each other?

[Chris Reivers]

It made things worse.

[Guest or Contributor]

How?

[Chris Reivers]

100%.

[Guest or Contributor]

How?

[Michael Reivers]

Why? Why did we have to make it worse? Why can't we just be dudes and friends?

[Chris Reivers]

The industry, if the industry goes away, there is a lot of people that are without income, without a job, without a purpose, without that's. They need to keep this alive.

[Michael Reivers]

So if I go back to my

[Chris Reivers]

earlier supposition, Charles Barkley has the greatest line about this ever. I forget who he is being interviewed with. He was talking nothing sports. He said the industry is alive for one reason. There's too many people making a ton of money off of it and they want us to hate each other.

[Michael Reivers]

So how do we. What do we call? Because my earlier supposition where if there's money in it, you get more of it, Right. Well, if there's money in racism, you get more racism, period. That's how you get it. Great example is chickens. Chickens. If there wasn't money in chickens, if people didn't eat chickens, you know what chickens want be there wouldn't be 50 billion chickens a year used. Right. You'd see a random chicken every once in a while and say, oh my God, there's a chicken running around. Right. But since there's money in chickens, we get way more chickens, right? So when there's money in racism, you get way more racism. And that's just damn sad.

[Chris Reivers]

So what I'm hearing from you is to say we should make loons delicious

[Michael Reivers]

if you want more loons, if you want more bald eagles, you start serving bald eagle. That is pure. The way you'd cure that, right? That is 100% it. I do know one thing. Back in 1984, two years ago, Breakfast Club came out. 42 years ago, the movie Breakfast Club and the Simple Minds had the song Don't Forget About Me, right? Huge hit, Simple Minds. They begged Simple Minds to play that song. They begged them. They actually went to Scotland and got on a plane and said, here's song. Simple Minds said, that is not a song for us. We don't want to do it, we don't like it, right? Finally they accepted that song and said, I heard it, we're going to sing it. They never put it on an album. They sold 60 million albums after 1980. This was a know nothing band after that song, which they never put on an album. Their album, it was on the soundtrack to Breakfast Club, right? They sold 60 million additional records. Finally, finally, just a handful of years ago, they finally recorded that song and put it on an album. And I just think back to 1984, how much better stuff was, right? I mean, we had a great movie. I was young, I was 13 or whatever in 1984. I remember breakfast Club coming out. I remember it being transformational. Right now we have K Pop Demon Hunters. Maybe somebody likes it. Now we have just all this stupid shit that we're dealing with as kids. What kids are dealing with, what was better. I remember having bipoc friends and not thinking about the fact they were bipoc.

[Chris Reivers]

And I think the biggest part, and one of the reasons that I have been so hesitant about any type of device for either of my sons is just because once you remove that, once they get that in their hand, there's no turning back.

[Michael Reivers]

There's no turning back.

[Chris Reivers]

And the addiction to that advice just starts from that. So my philosophy on that is, let's go as long as we can. I want them to create their own sense of being, sense of purpose, sense of independence. And I don't want them to have to be committed to this is the only thing that matters. Social media is the only thing that matters. No, there's a reason why all of this stuff now is up for legislation. Because these kids are getting addicted to these devices 100%.

[Michael Reivers]

My kids are fully on addicted. They have their phone in their hand, and every single second. Every single second. I did know reverse.

[Chris Reivers]

Can I tell you one more thing?

[Michael Reivers]

Yeah. Please, God, Yeah. You have another email?

[Chris Reivers]

No. Well, I bought our friends at Masters Maples.

[Michael Reivers]

Oh, this one's an important one.

[Chris Reivers]

Mastersmaples.com. here's the deal. I made sliders the other day. So I did kind of remember the famous rookie burger that we used to sell at Hoppers? I kind of made my own little mix with that. So it's burger. It's burger, ribeye, and chuck roast, and it's combined together. So I made sliders the other day, and my parents were over sweet. I made sliders for them and the fam. And I used the sweet seasoning for Master's maples. And my dad said, sweet Jesus, what did you put on these? And I said, haven't I ever? I thought I gave you a thing of the sweet seasoning for Master's maples. He said, no. So, you know, of course I went and got him one. That's fine. But that's. And my dad is about as picky an eater, especially when it comes to meat.

[Michael Reivers]

Okay.

[Chris Reivers]

And so he said, I'll grill the burger.

[Michael Reivers]

I said, dad, just let meet a certain way.

[Chris Reivers]

He's very, very picky about his meat. So then I went to go get a slider, and I said, where are they?

[Michael Reivers]

They're gone.

[Chris Reivers]

Between him, my mom, and the rest of my crew. I said, I don't get one.

[Michael Reivers]

Remember when Ben came here and he handed us samples of those. Of that sweet one? Right.

[Chris Reivers]

Yes.

[Michael Reivers]

And it was like, Monday the first. And then he sent me a text on, like, Wednesday the third and said, what'd you think of it? And I said, well, Ben, I mean, I haven't had a chance to try it. And he's like, what do you mean? I said, well, dude, I don't grill every single day, but those that do. Like, you, you're an avid griller.

[Chris Reivers]

Yeah, I love it. And the thing is, it's. I know they're a maple syrup company. We'll get to that in a second. But the seasonings he makes are unfreaking believable. They're so worth it. Sorry, I interrupted you.

[Michael Reivers]

No, I was just saying how funny that was that he thought I was gonna run back and test his product instantaneously thinking I was. I mean, maple syrup, I'll put on anything. I'll put a little bit of my

[Chris Reivers]

coffee, and it's one pure maple syrup. And it's the best that Minnesota has to offer. And our buddy Ben, a loyal, loyal frat packer, Town council member G. Eller. He's involved with everything. Yeah, exactly. He's the best. And this is his brainchild. And you know what? It's available at all of your Fratolone's hardware and garden stores locations. But if you're not able to make it there, just go online to mastersmaples.com and you can see all of the wonderful products that he has to offer. And it's a great product and a really good dude. And a loyal, loyal listener of both the weekly Scramble podcast and the Garagelogic podcast. Podcast. Mastersmaples.com, taste the Difference.

[Michael Reivers]

Michael Reivers. I don't know if you know this, but I was having a little bit of a hard time hearing my wife asked me, what are the symptoms? And I told her, homer's the fat one and Marge has the blue hair. Get it? What are the symptoms? And I heard Simpsons.

[Chris Reivers]

Yes, they have three kids, right? Bob? Maggie. Yeah, for sure.

[Michael Reivers]

That was pretty good. That was the best I have. Reavers, you are the best.

[Chris Reivers]

Thank you, Michael. Please do us a favor. Rate and review the show wherever you happen to be Listening to the weekly Scrambled podcast. It helps others find the show. It helps us out as well. We appreciate each and every single one of you. Oh, and one last quick plug from our friends at wearenuts and wearenutsmn.com take advantage of nut Madness going on through the end of the month of March, 25% off your order. And also coming up next week. Ooh, a Fantastic Four promotion that you are just going to have to wait for. But once again, support our [e-mail] that's Mike Frateloni. My name is Chris Rivers. Thank you so very much for listening to the weekly Scramble podcast podcast. We'll talk to you again next time. Until then, cheers.