FAST FOOD CRISIS

Good Morning,

Happy Friday, it’s 🌺 Mother’s Day weekend! 🌺 

This is what we are following:

✔ California’s Fast Food Crisis: jobs lost, lower profits, and price increases. We are all losing in this game.

✔ What can you 🏡 buy for $150k in California? You might be surprised.

✔ A man pays a homeless woman $20 to watch his granddaughter. It didn’t end well.

✔ Do you value laundry or your dog more when apartment hunting? Californians, you surprised us!

Cheers to Friday!

Netter News Team

UNHAPPY MEALS, SURGING PRICES, AND LAYOFFS

Once upon a time, grabbing a quick bite was easy on the wallet, but now Californians are feeling the crunch of skyrocketing fast food prices and the impact it could have across the state.

The Hikes

Fast food prices have surged well beyond the overall inflation rate since COVID-19 hit, with some popular items seeing significant price increases (nearly 22%). McDonald’s raised their prices the most - and IN- N-Out, remains the most affordable burger joint in California.

Why the increases?

Ya, blame it on inflation, but California’s new $20 minimum wage law is also behind the recent spike in prices.

Domino effect

So far, there is little evidence that workers are benefiting from the hike. Fast food restaurants in California are turning towards automation and laying off workers while raising prices by 10% to make up for the increase in worker wages.

Now supermarket unions, health care unions, and others are demanding that they too make $20 per hour. This could lead to serious staffing shortages in other sectors.

POLITICS, ECONOMY, EDUCATION & SCIENCE

ANOTHER INSURANCE CARRIER RAISES RATES

A major player in California’s home and auto insurance scene is bumping up rates by 15%.

What you need to know

• The state gave the green light to allow Travelers Insurance to increase rates for more than 320,000 homeowners starting June 24.

• The insurance folks say this is in response to wildfire risks, reinsurance costs, and inflation.

• Where the rates will go up the most isn’t clear yet.

What can you do

Despite major changes in coverage options by insurers, there are still options for policies in California. If you have time and patience, check out the Home Insurance Finder on the CA Dept. of Insurance website.

WHAT CAN YOU GET FOR $150,000 IN CALIFORNIA?

So, it’s the weekend and many of you might spend it looking at houses, especially since we got word that interest rates dropped below 7% for the first time in what feels like forever.

So we got to thinking, is there ANYWHERE in California where you can find a home for under $150,000? Yes, we know, impossible.

What we found out

We put the parameters in Zillow:

🏡There are 2,462 homes listed across the state if you put $150,000 in as the max price.

🏡357 homes if you take out manufactured homes in the filtered parameters.

There are some nice manufactured homes in 50+ communities and even a few lakefront pieces of land, but then there are some ridiculous places like these two, where you will need to bring some imagination and serious fixer-upper money:

🏡The sellers dubbed this the 240 square foot ‘Sugar Shack’ and it’s selling for $100k:

🏡 or for $125k, this “Mountain Retreat” Hot Springs.

We understand your skepticism. What would you do in these places if you’re not retired? We don’t have all the answers, but by golly, if there aren’t some places where you can find homes under $150k in California!

NEWSOM’S THIRD BOOK, A MEMOIR

As the Governor gears up for his trip to the Vatican (yes, he’s packing for Rome folks), we learned this week he’s writing his THIRD book. This time it’s a memoir.

If that doesn’t scream “presidential aspirations”, well then, we don’t know what does anymore.

Click on Mike’s X feed to read the hilarious title suggestions. 😬

HOT TAKES

🚨 GRANDPA ARRESTED: A Sacramento county man is behind bars today after allegedly paying a homeless woman $20 to watch his granddaughter so he could go get drunk. Deputies praise the woman, calling her a “guardian angel”.

🚨 TRANSGENDER SURFER RULING: The California Coastal Commission has ruled that a transgender woman must be allowed to compete in the women’s division at the Huntington Beach Longboard Pro competition tomorrow. The commission said that surf competitions cannot discriminate based on gender.

🚨 DEATH ROW PRISON TRANSFERS: Anger is brewing in San Bernardino County, as both residents and law enforcement are rightfully not happy after dozens of death row inmates were transferred from San Quentin to the California Institute for Men without notice.

🚨 FAT BURGER SCHEME: A Los Angeles jury has indicted the former CEO of the company behind Fatburger and Johnny Rockets of orchestrating a $47 million “sham loan” scheme.

🚨 FIRST HUMAN BRAIN IMPLANT: Elon Musk’s company ‘Neuralink’ faced challenges with its first human brain chip implant as some threads withdrew from the brain, causing decreased accuracy and speed. Despite the malfunction, the company called it a “successful” launch.

GOLDEN STATE GLOW

• 🌴 In San Francisco’s Duboce Triangle Neighborhood, Victorian homes paint the street in pastel hues, but there’s one house that breaks the mold. A pixelated masterpiece, or as some locals joke, a massive game of Tetris comes to life.

• 🌴The first image of Francis Ford Coppola’s latest film “Megalopolis” got the internet a buzz. The movie is a passion project for Coppola, who sold most of his Napa Valley winery to finance the $120 million project. The movie will premiere next month in Cannes.

🌴 We all love our pets, that is not in question. But it appears we love doing our laundry a bit more than having our pet live with us (don’t come at me, this is according to a new study by Zillow) when apartment hunting. Not one city in California made “the list” where the top concern was finding a rental home for their 🐶dog.

Don’t forget to tell take care of that special lady in your life this weekend. Make it a good one!