Joining John in this vivid exploration is Kurt Rogers from Affordable Interest Mortgage, a seasoned expert ready to dissect the intricacies of managing credit during the holiday season. As traditions take center stage and spending sees an uptick, Kurt brings invaluable insights on the repercussions of succumbing to retail temptations and opening new credit lines just to garner discounts. This eye-opening discussion raises awareness about maintaining a stable debt-to-income ratio, a critical element for anyone contemplating significant financial decisions post-holidays.
As the show continues, the dialogue takes a statistical turn with David Strzeski from Sound Planning Group. Armed with compelling data, David and John peel back the layers of national employment metrics, questioning the reliability of reported job growth amidst a backdrop of increasing government hiring. This segues into a broader critique of how employment numbers are calculated and reported, providing listeners with a more nuanced understanding of what these figures truly represent.
Amidst a seemingly prosperous facade presented by official numbers, David sheds light on the underlying stories often glossed over—stories where vast discrepancies underline the difference between perceived and actual employment realities. The episode reveals how, despite reports suggesting robust job growth, sectors experiencing layoffs paint a starkly different picture of economic health.
The conversation evolves into a pertinent discussion on the impacts of increased government hiring compared to the private sector, fueling debates on economic sustainability and efficiency. John and David navigate these complexities, pondering the long-term implications of a workforce increasingly reliant on government positions.
Throughout the episode, the theme of adaptability emerges as a key takeaway. The hosts stress the necessity of aligning personal financial strategies with the broader economic environment, advocating for a proactive approach in adjusting to market shifts. The discussions underscore the importance of informed decision-making in safeguarding personal and financial well-being amidst unpredictable economic tides.
This episode stands as a powerful reminder of the importance of financial literacy and the need for candidness in conversations about economic accountability. By challenging the status quo and encouraging self-improvement, ‘Rush to Reason’ emboldens its listeners to confront economic realities with courage and clarity, paving the way for individual and collective growth.
The conversation shifts as David Strzeski from Sound Planning Group joins in to discuss employment statistics and the discrepancies found within. They delve into the implications of recent jobs reports, discussing how government hiring is outpacing the private sector and the challenges this presents. John and David also explore the broader economic context, including the potential impacts of shifting governmental strategies and how these might affect individuals nationwide. Throughout the discussion, they emphasize the importance of readiness and adaptability in an ever-changing economic landscape.
SPEAKER 05 :
This is Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 04 :
You are going to shut your damn yapper and listen for a change because I got you pegged, sweetheart. You want to take the easy way out because you're scared. And you're scared because if you try and fail, there's only you to blame. Let me break this down for you. Life is scary. Get used to it. There are no magical fixes.
SPEAKER 05 :
With your host, John Rush.
SPEAKER 04 :
My advice to you is to do what your parents did. Get a job first. You haven't made everybody equal. You've made them the same, and there's a big difference.
SPEAKER 10 :
Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there. It is this feeling that has brought you to me.
SPEAKER 04 :
Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 13 :
It's Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush. Presented by High Five Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling, where every call ends with a high five.
SPEAKER 11 :
All right, welcome back. Out number three, Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Time for our Monday Mortgage Minute. Kurt Rogers from Affordable Interest Mortgage. Kurt, welcome, sir. How are you? I'm doing just fine. John, how are you? I'm good. It's a little different weather outside today than we had yesterday, but still good. So as we head down this stretch into Christmas, I was kind of previewing this before you came on, really trying to let people know that, A, we were going to talk to you, and B, I was going to ask you, As we head into Christmas and people will be looking at all sorts of different things regarding gifts and presents and their finances and so on, how important is it for folks that may be looking to do something mortgage-wise in the next six months after the holidays? How important is it for them to really watch what they do credit card-wise?
SPEAKER 12 :
Right now, you and I have kind of had this conversation on the side, but right now people can actually, by going out at Christmas time, they'll open up a lot of credit cards to be able to take care of Christmas.
SPEAKER 10 :
Right.
SPEAKER 12 :
If you don't do that correctly, that can be very costly in five to six months down the road because it can affect your credit score. Having too many credit cards with too high of balances will drive your score down.
SPEAKER 11 :
So in other words, don't be tempted by that freebie deal that, hey, if you get a credit card today, you get X amount off. Just sign here.
SPEAKER 12 :
Don't do that. Now, use the cards you have. Call the credit card company. Ask them to raise the limit. But don't go out and get a new one just to save maybe 10% or 20% because it's going to affect your score and cost you more.
SPEAKER 11 :
And for those of you listening, that's especially true. I mean, I think it's true across the board, Kurt, but especially if you're looking at a move or you're upsizing, downsizing. In other words, if you're looking at doing something different mortgage-wise, again, in the next six months, I would not do any of that.
SPEAKER 12 :
And I agree with that. But also remember, whatever you're going to put on your credit cards, that's going to increase your payments, your monthly payments. True. So if you're thinking about buying a house... and you're increasing those payments, you've got to start thinking about what's my debt-to-income ratio. Will I still qualify if I want to buy a house or refinance?
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, my thought would be if you're really in that world, Kurt, and that's something you're thinking of doing in the next six months, and I know sometimes it's hard to not do, but I would forego or make Christmas very light and let everybody in your family know what your plan is over the next six months, and that's just part of what we have to do for Christmas.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah. Yeah, because if you're looking at, like you said, if you want to refinance or purchase in six months and you don't make it because of something you did here that you could have corrected, if you want to know what those numbers are, what your debt-to-income ratio needs to be, and how to calculate it, it's very simple. They can just call me, and I can just tell them how to do it for themselves so they have an idea of what they're putting themselves into.
SPEAKER 11 :
Great. You take over KLZ tomorrow, noon to one, for Haystack Help Radio. What are you doing tomorrow, Kurt?
SPEAKER 12 :
We're going to be answering questions just like this. We've had quite a few of the listeners call in and say, well, what happens if I do this? How can I do that? Different things. So we're going to be talking about those tomorrow.
SPEAKER 11 :
Perfect. Kurt, as always, I appreciate you, sir. Thanks, John. You bet. Have a great night. Kurt Rogers, Affordable Interest Mortgage, 720-895-0500. Do you have more month than money?
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SPEAKER 07 :
This is Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 11 :
We are back. As I said last hour, David Strzeski joining us now, Sound Planning Group. David, how are you, sir? Welcome. Hey, doing fantastic, John. How about yourself? Good. Merry Christmas to you. I don't know what I'll talk to you before then, so I hope you have a great Christmas. Talk to us about the latest jobs report, which might not look as rosy as the numbers actually say.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, well, you know, these jobs numbers come out, and, of course, we get this headline figure. And so everyone gets excited. It makes all the news reports. And it said we had 227,000 positive jobs in the month of October. Sounds amazing. However, if you look at the household survey, as in you call people's houses and you say, hey, do you have a job, yes or no? We lost 355,000 jobs last month.
SPEAKER 11 :
Okay, so how can there be so much discrepancy between the two?
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, so if you're just looking at the ADP jobs report, you could have two part-time jobs and be counted twice on that report, as I just got hired twice. But you really only have the equivalent of one full-time job, and those aren't even good jobs. So full-time jobs, part-time jobs are all counted the same in that government statistic. When you get down to the actual what is happening in the private sector, though, This is where it's different. And if you look at private sectors, they've been doing big layoffs here for the last nine months straight. And so last year, the number we had was 1.2 million were looking for work. Now we're looking at 1.7 million unemployed. So that's 500,000 more Americans that are still looking for work. And by the way, there's plenty that have stopped looking.
SPEAKER 11 :
But the Fed says everything's great, David.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, they also say that they're federal and a place of reserve. Oh, yeah. Good point.
SPEAKER 1 :
Good point.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, you know, and I wanted to bring this up with you specifically because, A, you watch these numbers and, you know, I do as well. And I also know, despite what a lot of. people think. Most people think that unemployment is done through reporting of employers and ADP and paychecks and companies like that, and nothing could be farther from the truth. They do exactly what you said a moment ago. They literally go out and poll x amount of americans and it's a pretty big job it's still in my opinion david pretty antiquated but that's how they actually do it they do not go off of those numbers now some of the hiring numbers they will take what adp and some of the others say but keep in mind as you know david adp doesn't service every single business out there correct correct
SPEAKER 03 :
And here's the interesting thing, John. We're having fewer people actually filling out these surveys or completing them. And so record low numbers actually in participation right now. So it's not even like a robust thing that we should be really paying attention to. This is very anemic, actually. So much so that if you'll remember, in March every year, they give you the official number of how many jobs were there and not after the seasonally adjusted stuff is out of there. But we only get it once a year. Jobs were revised down by 818,000 for the 12 months prior.
SPEAKER 1 :
818,000.
SPEAKER 03 :
Tell me another job that you can have that you miss your official numbers so significantly. I mean, we're looking at almost like more than a third.
SPEAKER 11 :
Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
And you still keep your job. You're still credible. You're still whatever. Absolutely. I just don't see this.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, and here's a question for you, and this has been kind of in the back of my mind, and I don't know, I'm not privy to this information, but it would seem like, David, that they want some of these numbers now. to look better than what they are, because that's a little bit of a boost for the Democrats and Joe Biden himself. Yet after Trump gets inaugurated, my anticipation is you'll see the real numbers and what those things actually look like once Trump enters office, because then it'll all be blamed on him.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, there's no question, and this is not even an opinion. The NBER, which is the organization that officially says that there's recessions or not, are very, very liberal. In fact, I believe 100% of them were appointed by Obama. And so, yeah, they've given us some very interesting government numbers here where we see that actually government hiring has far exceeded private sector hiring in these numbers. Unreal. You know, they get revised down so significantly and we make, you know, not a big deal of it. So Wall Street's complicit for not making a big enough deal of it. And just going along as the Pied Piper. You know, no offense, David.
SPEAKER 11 :
A lot of those are in the same camp, you know, politically speaking. And I just know because a lot of a lot of traders, a lot of folks on Wall Street are very liberal.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, well, sure.
SPEAKER 11 :
Which, by the way, side note, David, makes no sense to me.
SPEAKER 03 :
I think there's a lot of them that are just, they vote based upon a dollar and not necessarily ideals and some of the same reasons why you or I might do it as we're raising kids or families and we're part of communities in different ways. Good point. Wall Street serves Wall Street. D.C. serves D.C. Both sides of the aisle have their challenges, no question. I think that we, the people, are the ones that really actually have the voice, though. And what's awesome is that we're starting to get it back. And I feel like I have more of a voice right now. Agreed. You know, this this this department of let's cut some.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, you know, and I'm glad you're going. I was going to go there anyways. You beat me to it. Doge Department of Government Efficiency. OK, let's talk for a moment. You mentioned a moment ago about the fact that government right now is hiring more than the private sector. And it is the data shows that. So we get Doge going and you get Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy that basically say, hey, guys, guess what? We're not going to spend some of the money in some of these areas we once were. In fact, some of you that have jobs now probably ought to be looking for a different job because you may not have this job any further. If, in fact, they get some of these things done, which, by the way, I believe they will, what effect will that have economically on us? Or will it?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, you know, good question. I think that there will be a, you know, I'll say this. Are... ecosystem is very unhealthy right now. Correct. So we need to start with that as a premise.
SPEAKER 11 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 03 :
The second thing is to say, how do you fix it? Well, if your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep is going to be your downfall. We've got so many people, 14,400 turning 65 and literally, in the year 2024. The biggest group of baby boomers turning 65 is in the year 2024. Now, we have all these boomers going into Social Security and Medicare. What's going to happen with our spending? These organizations that we've been paying into for all these years, well, guess what? We're paying the Pied Piper now, and we're living longer than ever before. And so we have some significant challenges. What will be the issue, though, when we start cutting? Well, there'll be people that will certainly... I believe that they are disadvantaged and disenfranchised, and I'm sure the lawsuits will come and there'll be a lot of crazy stuff. I hope, though, that we can, as a nation, have a real conversation about some things and say, you know what, does it make sense the way that we're running this? Would anyone run their household like this? Because if this isn't the way that we'd run our household, why would we, the people, run our government like this? That's the biggest thing that tells me that it's not actually our government. Right, right. I agree. And by the way, I agree with what you just said a moment ago.
SPEAKER 11 :
I do think there's going to have to be some really staunch, hard conversations along those lines. My fear is, and it's a wholesome fear, David, is that... What you just said, while that makes sense to you and I, you know, about families and spending and so on, the typical government worker, I'm not sure, comprehends what you and I just said along those lines because I don't think they look at life the same way you and I do. There are some that do, and I've got some that listen to this program that very much are in that same camp and agree with what you and I are saying. I'm fearful that there's far too many that don't that, to your point earlier, will balk at any type of cuts and the lawsuits will come flying.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, and, you know, if you really want to incite riots and everything, why don't we tell everybody that people are evil and, you know, and all this other stuff like like they've alienated President Trump, you know, for all these years. And then there's people shooting at him, you know, three times. That's not a big deal. Holy smokes. We are divided right now. This is the opportunity where we can heal. And we can, as a nation, you know what, when cuts come, if I was the person getting some cuts taken away from me, some of them taken away from me that I really needed, or even that it was excessive and expensive, but man, I was really benefiting from it, man, I would be hard. I don't think that there's an easy way to do that. Now, there is some ways to just cut some jobs for people that aren't willing to show up. Well, that's easy, okay? But there are some real hard conversations we've got to have. And
SPEAKER 11 :
And really quick, and I've mentioned this before on the program, and see if I'm correct in my thinking, but first thing I would do is, number one, if you've got folks that are getting close to retirement in the governmental systems, well, just whatever you need to do to encourage that, you're still going to save money on down the road when it comes to payroll, that retirement they're going to get no matter what. So my number one thought is take some of those elderly government workers, let's encourage them to move on, and that becomes really easy at that point. The next thing i would look at is if you've worked in government for five years or less uh no offense you don't have a lot going for you anyways you don't have a lot of stake in the game we're going to cut you as well and then lastly david i think the way you get to thin the herd is you move the agencies in a lot of cases themselves and through that move you'll have some attrition no matter what because some of those people just won't move if you take an agency by the way that's in D.C. and you move it to Colorado, for example, some of those folks are just going to say, yeah, no pound sand. I'm staying where I'm at. And I think you'd have pretty good grounds to just say, well, you know, we offered you the job. We said that we would even pay some of your moving expenses to go. You're the one that decided to stay. You no longer have a job.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. Yeah, you know, I don't know. There's going to be a big national conversation for sure. And it'll be great to find some efficiency. I'm very much a ready aim fire. I feel like a lot of the, you know, that which, you know, came down these last four years, you know, by executive order. even the state of Washington, where I'm at, by executive order, is just absolutely insane.
SPEAKER 11 :
Just kill some of that stuff right off the bat. To me, that's easy stuff. That's a low-hanging fruit. Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. But, you know, we've got to get our nation back to work. So it's supply-side economics that are going to do the things that are going to get us back – and hustling and doing the things that we're really good at. You know, it's the entrepreneur spirit. I think inflation's here, though, and so we got some real hard stuff that's going on. I like what you were just talking about with the guest earlier about people's budgets and not overspending and, you know, adding a little extra credit line instead of getting a different credit card. That was a great tip. People need to understand if their outgo exceeds their income, their upkeep will be their downfall. Same problem as Uncle Sam's. You are responsible for yourself. People have to understand that there's no nation that's going to come and rescue us if we fall apart, okay? Now, here's the interesting thing about credit cards, and this is actually really scary. Unsecured lines of credit, actually. And if people just say that they're done with it, well, those are – Those are gone if you file bankruptcy. So I think that we're probably going to see a lot of carnage coming, although a lot of good things. But there's a lot of carnage coming as different industries and people and sectors start to fall apart as our economy changes here, ultimately for the best. But when you go from one thing to the next, we just have to understand they ebb and they flow.
SPEAKER 11 :
That's right. No, you are 100% correct. And my advice to folks is, number one, I guess maybe because I've been one of those entrepreneurs the majority of my – well, all my adult life, actually, David. I mean, I've been self-employed since 1986, so I wasn't very old when I started. And the reality is when you're self-employed, there's always – and I know folks – I've read even books that say, you know, don't have a plan B because you don't have a plan B. You've got to make plan A work. Well, while I agree with that premise, I think it's very foolish to not have some alternative that, hey, if all of this goes south, I can still go do X. No, that's not my main plan, and I'm not going to work towards that. But I do have a relief valve, if you would, that's out there. And by the way, David, most people don't think that way.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, and most people need the education right now. So think about this. We need the right education because there are certain industries that are just not going to work. AI is going to take certain things out very easily, especially if you jack up minimum wage to $15 an hour. That's right. So you're going to see big shifts and changes. So become employable. Become a key inside of the organizations that you're working at. Yep. Be that entrepreneur and create the next stuff because there's so many opportunities and things out there for people to be doing and to be taking advantage of. But this is definitely not for the faint of heart. And as we're changing, I just hope that real conversations can happen. People can actually look one another in the eyes and remember that we are the United States after all, not the divided states. And so let's bring our united ideas together, even though they might sound different and and I guarantee you we're going to find some harmony. We've been doing it for 250 years. We can continue to do it. We just need the right leadership.
SPEAKER 11 :
Fully agree with you, David, as always. Appreciate you very much. How do folks find you and follow you?
SPEAKER 03 :
Hey, myspg.com is our website. We've got a number of things that are going on here. I've got some classes that are going to be coming out in the first month of the year online, so people that are more interested in getting information on Medicare and Social Security and retirement planning. I'll call this the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2.0. I'm just in the process of finishing up this class. Trump is going to reignite that, and it is literally the single greatest opportunity in our lifetimes to reduce or eliminate taxes on our retirement dollars.
SPEAKER 11 :
David, as always, appreciate you, sir. Have a great Christmas. Hey, pleasure's mine, John. You bet. Appreciate you very much. David Strazeski, again, Sound Planning Group and Golden Eagle Financial, Al Smith. He ties right into David because locally, if you want to sit down and have a conversation with somebody that can help you face-to-face with all of your financial planning needs, and that includes everything from hey, do I have the right life insurance, and is that working well for me, and what should I be doing in these other areas? And you may be somebody that doesn't want to mess with anything along those lines. You're not a day trader. You're not into that. You want somebody to help you along the way. Al can do all of that for you. Golden Eagle Financial, find him at klzradio.com.
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SPEAKER 11 :
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SPEAKER 13 :
Now, back to Rush to Reason, presented by Hi-5 Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling, where every call ends with a high five.
SPEAKER 11 :
All right, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. You guys hear me talk about them periodically, and that's our Colorado Public Employees Retirement Fund. That's what PARA stands for. And I've talked about this over the course of literally the past, what have I been on air now, Charlie, 11 years or so now, and I've talked about it from almost day one because it's been a problem that entire time. And when I say problem, I mean underfunded. Now, it doesn't mean that those that are on payroll right now are not going to get their checks and get paid, but as time goes by, the liability part of the fund continues to grow, and it's not being offset well enough. Right now, and by the way, the reason this is so important is because it's a public-funded retirement account, and when I mean publicly-funded, Yes, the teachers and those that are participating in it, they fund it to an extent, but it's guaranteed by you, the taxpayer. So if something happens and it becomes insolvent, we're on the hook. We, as in taxpayers, are on the hook. Right now... The fund is basically short. It's got unfunded debts to its members of $27.5 billion. Not million, billion.
SPEAKER 1 :
$27.5.
SPEAKER 11 :
And what's happened here of late, and the reason why I brought this up is there's some articles out there. Colorado Sun actually picked this one up, whereby there was a board member, a trustee, by the name of Scott Smith, who raised some awareness about to some of these things and even encouraged teachers and administrators inside of the Paris system to bring whatever concerns they've got to board meetings, which you would think would be the appropriate thing to do. Well, he got censured and basically reprimanded for doing that. In other words, this is a board that doesn't want to be transparent. This is a board that doesn't care what its members actually think. This is a board that feels it's above the law. That no matter what they do, it's good enough and it doesn't make any difference what anybody else thinks and don't question me about it. And I didn't realize that this had become such a big deal, but there's even been some board meetings to where Scott Smith had invited some folks to come, and they spent way longer, I guess, airing their concerns to the point that the board meeting, wow, went too long. Ask me if I care on that one, by the way. This is your job, para-members. I don't care that your meeting went long. I don't care that 50 people showed up to express their concerns. Good for them. It's their money that you're supposed to be watching over. Key word here, you're a board trustee, meaning you are accountable and responsible for the money those people have put in. Do your dang job. And yet you're mad at a person like Scott for inviting people to come in and air their grievances. That's what they're supposed to do, and it's what you should be doing regularly. You guys are a bunch of clowns. Literally, clowns. You are not above the law. And I, as a taxpayer, am backing up your fund. I, as much as the people that are there, that are contributing, have a right to express grievances. I'm a taxpayer. I fund what you won't, what you fail to do. And there's been all sorts of conversation throughout the past decade or more about how they're looking at their actuaries as far as how much money they'll actually be making in the future interest-wise to replace the money in the fund. And where I'm going with that is they were using numbers that were 8%, 10%, 12% returns that they have not met. A lot of years, they don't come close to meeting what their expectations were. Therefore, not making as much money on the fund as they should. Therefore, it gets short. That's where this $27.5 billion figure comes from. In my opinion, that whole board needs replaced. The trustees need replaced. They're a bunch of jokers. If you're one of them, by the way, shame on you. Shame on you. You should be doing a better job with the money that's been entrusted to you. And I don't care what your business of that meeting is. If there are people there that want to speak to you about what's going on, you should be listening. Shame on you. I don't care what your business is. You can do that business someplace else for that matter. Get your ducks in a row prior to the meeting. By the way, as you guys all probably know by now, I have sat through many a board meeting, through various organizations, and I will tell you that 90% of what goes on in a board meeting is wasted time. Could have been done outside of the meeting very easily and just bring a synopsis to the meeting and everybody there doesn't have to argue over something stupid. I've been in church board meetings where you argued about the paint color of a wall, and I'm not exaggerating. No one cares at the end of the day. Sorry, there's better things to talk about. I guarantee you there are some of these things that go on in these meetings that if I were there listening and or running the meeting, they would not take near as much time as they do. And yes, I've ran many a meeting in my day, as you probably already know. Not bragging, but I know how to run a meeting, and they shouldn't take that long. But I will say this when it comes to public comment. If you want to limit public comment to a certain amount of minutes per person, I get that. You need to give everybody ample time to be able to speak. And if you want to limit that to five minutes a person, okay, fine. I'm okay with that. But to just shut them down to where they're not allowed to speak at all and or get mad at a particular board member because they instituted that, that's a bunch of garbage. Shame on you. These are unelected governmental officials. And check me on that, Charlie. I don't believe para folks are elected. Double check me to make sure. But I'm pretty sure they're appointed. But double check me on that. I've never voted for a paraperson. Let's just say that. Now, internally, maybe in their own system, they get voted for. But by the way, given the fact this is a public fund that I, as a taxpayer, am backing up, these should be voted positions. Elected positions, I mean. We should vote for these people. I'm guessing they're appointed. Appointed. That's what I thought. Charlie just said appointed by the governor, confirmed by the Senate. 16 people. Which, frankly, is eight too many. You don't need a board of 16 people. You can't make decisions. There's too many people. That's twice as many as there should be. And I don't know how many come from the public versus come from the private and so on. Yeah. And what are they paid? I don't know. In fact, Charlie, thank you for asking. One of the things that that this Scott individual, Scott Smith, complained about was there's a lack of transparency on the para website as to what goes on, including some of the things even Charlie and I are talking about. You should be able to go to the para website and find everything I just said. What's the budget? By the way, a synopsis of the budget. Where are they at with their liabilities and or the fund itself? How is it functioning? How is it performing? And so on. And by the way, I don't want the details. I want a synopsis. An accurate synopsis of what's going on. There should be minutes to each meeting, which the way I understood in this particular article, those don't exist. Those should be public. From what I understand, none of that is on the website and should be. This is one of those I call rogue boards that runs amok and really isn't accountable. And the reason why it upsets people like myself is because if this thing runs amok, we're on the hook for it. By law, by law in Colorado, we as taxpayers have to fund this. If it comes up short... All of you that are listening to pay Colorado taxes, you're on the hook for this. And I don't think most people really understand what I'm talking about because it's not talked about in the news and in public near enough. It's just something that's assumed that, oh, if I put in 30% of my paycheck as a government worker, then I'm going to get that back someday. I've got a guaranteed contribution with a defined benefit, and that's how I'm going to make this work. Actually, it's not even a defined contribution. It's a defined benefit, which that needs changed. I think some of the new people coming in, it's a defined contribution. But in the past, it's been a defined benefit. And there are some folks out there right now that are pulling from Para way more than they probably should have been because in the past, I don't know if it's still the way it is today. I believe it is, though. In the past, let's say you were a teacher and you made, I don't know, you've been there long enough and maybe you're even an administrator and you're making $100,000 a year. Use round numbers. I believe Para paid you 80% of that figure when you retired. Now, the way that worked, though, is it was based upon the last two years you worked earnings. So let's say you put in 30 years. And let's say you made, you know, towards the end there, you were starting to make upwards of $100,000. Well, guess what you could go do? You could go drive a school bus for two seasons, right? Add to your 120 or add to your 100. Maybe you could go make as a bus driver another 30. You did that for two years. You now made 130 and you got 80% of that. Follow where I'm going with this? That's part of the system, by the way, that needs to be fixed because you shouldn't be able to double dip like that. But a lot of folks did. and are now making that money in retirement guaranteed from PERA on the backs of taxpayers. Because remember, they didn't put that much in. Those last two years, they didn't contribute as much as what they should have, but yet the defined benefit says they still get the money. That's the problem with the system and also partly why they're underfunded by $27.5 billion. So I wanted to bring that to your attention. I talk about PERA a lot, and a lot of you that are inside the system probably should follow this closely now. On the same token, you're going to get your money no matter what because we as taxpayers have to fund it no matter what. But it's an important thing for taxpayers in Colorado to know where this is because it could very much affect us as taxpayers on down the road if this thing continues to go haywire, which it already is. So I'll keep you guys abreast of that, but that's a synopsis of what's going on inside of PARA and the Board of Trustees, which, by the way, sounds like kangaroo court to me, and it's run by a bunch of scoundrels. And I'll just say that straight up. So Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning is coming up next. If you've got any problems with your furnace, not working correctly, it's cold, you want to replace it, you need to tune up, whatever it is, give Cub Creek a call today. Find them at klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 06 :
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SPEAKER 11 :
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SPEAKER 11 :
Flesh Law Firm is next, and if you've got any problems, accidents, and from what I understand, some of the roads around town right now are getting a little bit slick, so please be careful when you're out driving around. And if you find yourself in any kind of an accident, you need some representation, give Kevin a call today, 303-806-8886.
SPEAKER 06 :
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SPEAKER 09 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
This isn't Rage Radio. This is Real Relatable Radio. Back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 11 :
All right, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Not in my notes, but Charlie just reminded me of something that I can throw in here for the last six, seven minutes we have of the show. More FEC reports coming out on the Harris campaign and what she actually spent money on and who some of that money went to. Some of them, like, was it Beyonce, Charlie? What was the number? 185K to stand there. Yeah, it's to the management company, but we know how that works. She didn't do a thing. She stood there. In fact, people were mad because she didn't sing. But yet she earned $185,000 to basically stand up there and endorse Kamala Harris, Oprah Winfrey, her company, Harpo Productions. Million bucks for a video that they produced. Was it an hour? How long was the video, Charlie? I've got to look up how long the video was or what all went on there, but let me just tell you this. Knowing what I know about some of what goes on there, a million dollars is heavily, heavily, heavily inflated by probably an extra zero, and even that is being very generous. In other words, $100,000 is being very generous. It's borderline... In my opinion, borderline money laundering, depending upon what those actual individuals did back to the campaign, you have to wonder what's going on here. I mean, basically, at the end of the day, if I were a donor, I would be 90 minutes. Thank you, Charlie, 90 minutes. Yeah, a million bucks, far too much. And if I were a donor, I'd be hot because my money was wasted. That money really went to pad the pockets of a lot of celebrities is really what happened. And in turn, got their endorsements for Kamala Harris by doing so. If you were or you are a donor on that side, I would be extremely, extremely upset at what happened there. Again, more and more is going to come out on where the actual money was spent. There are claims now. Initially, they thought she spent about a billion dollars, but I think the number now, Charlie, is up to like 1.6, I want to say. $1.5, $1.6 billion that she alone in 90 days spent, and she's still short. What, was it $50 million she's short, Charlie, I want to say, or $20 million? $20 million she's short. And again, who knows if that's even the actual number at this point. Sounds like they don't have anybody that really knows how to add. A lot of fleecing went on there. I mean, in other words, a lot of people had their hand in the till, quote, unquote, and extracted money out of good donors that really did believe in her cause. I mean, those are the people that I really feel sorry for. There's a lot of people out there that really believed in the cause, and I would have to believe, unless I'm completely wrong and the left is just this ignorant, I got to believe this affects future fundraising. The more of this comes out, and the more they find how she literally wasted their money on a campaign that was, no matter what somebody on the left says, was dismal at best. How do you justify spending $1.6 billion? And you're still $20 million short, by the way. And then you find out some of the things I just mentioned a moment ago, and this is the tip of the iceberg. I think you're going to see a lot more money wasted than just that. I mean, some of the airtime that she even purchased was absolutely ludicrous, some of the money that she spent. And again, you're going to see more and more come out. And by law, just like here with our own Colorado GOP, you'll find out because you can't hide that stuff. If you do, you're going to jail. Well, maybe not as a Democrat, but a Republican sure would. So it'll continue to come out. We'll find out exactly where some of the money was spent. But again, if I were a donor, I would be extremely mad over the way that money was spent and handled because there's a lot of wealthy people already. I mean, keep in mind, Oprah's a billionaire. If Oprah really believed in her candidate and in her country that she felt so, you know, how should I say this, Charlie, burdened to help out, she should have done that for free, for a donation to the campaign and not taken the million dollars. Tells you how greedy people like Oprah really are. Now, Oprah will claim, well, I didn't know anything about it. You liar. Yeah, you did. Yeah. I know a million dollars to a billionaire isn't a lot, but it's still enough to pay attention to what's going on. And somebody in that organization would have said, hey, Oprah, guess what? Guess what? Guess what? The Harris campaign is asking us to do. By the way, how much do you think we ought to charge? Here's our first thought. What do you think? Trust me, folks, those conversations take place. As much as Oprah wants to sound like she doesn't know, she is a liar. Flat out liar. If she says she doesn't know, she's lying. Period. And there's nobody on the left that can defend that. And here's how I know. I'm a business owner. I know how these things work. I know the communication that happens inside of a business, and Oprah isn't that removed from that large of a deal that she wouldn't know what's going on. Period. And I also know that Oprah's not dumb, and she didn't get to where she's at today by not knowing what's going on in her own company. I'll give her credit where credit's due, but her to come out now and play dumb, shame on you, Oprah. You should know better than that. You're not going to get by with playing dumb. So veteran windows and doors is next. Entry doors right now, 40% off. Free labor to install. Give Dave a call today. Find him at klzradio.com.
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SPEAKER 05 :
Suck it up, buttercup. Back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, somebody just texted that the donors to the Harris campaign need to get a message telling them this is how Marxism works. Grow up. Yeah, can't argue that one, by the way. Great text message. I appreciate that. Yeah, you're not wrong. Let me just say that. You are not wrong. And really quick, somebody texted in, too. Who do I have that's a sponsor for the reverse mortgages? That is Bruce Simmons. American Liberty Mortgage. You can find Bruce at klzradio.com. Just look for Bruce Simmons. That's American Liberty Mortgage. And if you heard that via text or if you heard that answer to the text, please tell me you did. Otherwise, I'll text you back. But thank you, by the way, guys, for all the text messages. Have a great night. Be safe out there in the snow. Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
