Join John Rush and his guest, Jersey Joe, as they dive deep into the relevance of America’s strategic oil reserves. Is this relic of the past still necessary in our modern world, or is it merely a financial burden? The discussion sheds light on the current state of U.S. oil production and explores alternative strategies for national energy independence.
SPEAKER 11 :
This is Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 10 :
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 18 :
With your host, John Rush.
SPEAKER 21 :
My advice to you is to do what your parents did. Get a job, sir.
SPEAKER 12 :
You haven’t made everybody equal. You’ve made them the same, and there’s a big difference.
SPEAKER 04 :
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 21 :
Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 11 :
It’s Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush, presented by Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning.
SPEAKER 08 :
And we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Jersey Joe joining us now. Joe, how are you today? John, I’m great, but how did you know it was me? Oh, I just always know. I can tell by the number. Okay. I have a lot of you guys’ numbers when they come up on the screen. Even if Charlie doesn’t put in who it is, I just know.
SPEAKER 14 :
Okay, because nobody answered the phone. It just went right to music.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, I know the—I memorized phone numbers.
SPEAKER 14 :
All right. Did you have a discussion on the last weekend on the show about nobody remembers phone numbers anymore?
SPEAKER 08 :
I did, and I still, you know, do. Hey, question for you. Before we get going on some of the other topics, this is the text message that just came in. I thought you and I could spend a moment talking about it because I have differences of opinions on our strategic oil reserves. Somebody texted and said, are we building that back up knowing that prices are rising? way down. Now, if we want to use the strategic reserve to buy low, sell high, and do that over and over again as a country and make some money, you know what, Joe, I’m all for that. But do we really need their strategic reserve any longer? I’ll tell you straight up, all of you listening, I don’t think we do. I think it’s a waste of money, frankly.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, given, you know, unless somebody could point out to me how you could, you know, within a few, a couple of days, completely shut down oil production in this country. And oil production, I mean, John, it goes all the way from the north shore of Alaska up through Montana. And you got the Bakken formation up there in North Dakota. You got Texas. You got Louisiana. You got offshore in the Gulf. I don’t see how you… stop U.S. oil production. I really don’t.
SPEAKER 08 :
It would take a lot. And keep in mind, folks, for all of you listening, we only, when we’re totally full, right now we have about, I just looked up, so as of October right now, 2025, we’re holding about 409 million barrels. We have the ability to store about 727 million barrels. Now, keep in mind that as a country, we use about 21 million barrels a day. So do the math on how long that lasts. Our strategic reserve, so our total capacity of storage, right now we’re holding 409 million barrels.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, if you’re going to allow the general public to access that and even the trucking industry, John, you’d get like 20 days out of it.
SPEAKER 08 :
Thank you. And that’s my point as to unless we’re using it as a way to make money, in other words, we buy that, you know, we fill that thing up when it’s low, we sell it off when it’s high, we fill it back up again when it’s low, unless we’re utilizing it that way, because the reality is, releasing those X amount of millions of barrels, which Biden did, by the way, trying to lower prices, it’s a pimple on a cow. It’s not doing anything at the end of the day, Joe.
SPEAKER 14 :
Right, and it really, because, and here’s the other point, if we were, if you were to shut, if an enemy were to find a way to shut down oil production, that would also shut down, whatever that mechanism was, John, it would also shut down our refinery capacity, and that crude oil industry is worthless as crude oil, you have to refine it. You’ve got to turn it into jet fuel.
SPEAKER 08 :
So unless we’ve got, to your point, if it got to the point where you couldn’t produce oil out of the ground, that means most likely, in other words, there’s an EMP. You can’t produce out of the ground, meaning your refineries are also incapacitated. They’re not producing anymore. No offense, having even 700 million barrels of oil in a cavern isn’t doing us any good at that point either.
SPEAKER 14 :
Right, because you cannot use it without refining it.
SPEAKER 08 :
So I’m one, and again, maybe I’m odd, and I know this is a big deal for a lot of the conservative folk that are out there, but I don’t look at the reserve capacity that we have the same way most do, Joe.
SPEAKER 14 :
John, you’re probably right. You’re probably in the very small minority, but I’m with you, John. I don’t see, given our oil capacity, and by the way, we could ramp up. There’s still a lot of oil wells left. that have been drilled but that are temporarily shut down. I happen to be involved in that industry. And oil wells require ongoing maintenance. And when you get oil down below 70, when a well goes down, rather than spend a half million dollars or a million dollars to bring it back online, they just say, oh, leave it down.
SPEAKER 08 :
Leave it. Or go drill a new one or do whatever.
SPEAKER 14 :
Or just up the production of the old ones.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right.
SPEAKER 14 :
So we could ramp up that production by, I’m guessing, 15% in two weeks if we had to.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, yeah. No, no. Well, so anyway, so so and by the way, that was not to belittle anybody that texted that in. I just my comment back is I don’t know where it is. Don’t really care where it is. I don’t follow that because at the end of the day, it is such a minor. And to your point, Joe, I did the math at our current capacity. It’s 19 days. So, you know, if you had it all the way full, you might get what? Twenty eight, twenty nine days, not even a month’s supply when it’s all said and done.
SPEAKER 14 :
As my father used to say, the equivalent of a fart in a Galloway.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, not going to do much when it’s all said and done. And remember, you still got to get that out, truck it around. You know, it is in one part of the country where we’re supplying oil all over the country through different pipelines we’ve got for the delivery systems and so on. I mean, I’m not sure, Joe, that if you had to go that route and that’s the only oil you could use. By the way, at one time, for all of you that probably know this, but at one time we had that for the military sides of things, Joe. We just don’t need that anymore.
SPEAKER 14 :
No, we don’t. It’s kind of a relic, John, like the federal minimum wage. Yeah. It’s a relic that just needs to go away.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, and that’s one where, frankly, you could sell it all off and not worry about it. Or, again, if you wanted to use it to buy and sell and make money off of, but that’s not what we’re in the business of doing, Joe. That’s not what government should be doing. We’re not in the oil business.
SPEAKER 14 :
We’re not in the oil business. If we were, all we would have to do is speculate, you know, just you buy oil futures, John.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. Exactly. Exactly. So, anyways, I just want to throw that out there because that was a text message that came in.
SPEAKER 14 :
Okay. I’m with you, John. All right. Hey, John, I got some serious stuff I want to get to, but before we get to the serious stuff, I got a little humor here. I sent you a clip of a woman in the U.K. who’s been lobbying Parliament to spend 1.5 trillion pounds, which is the equivalent of $2 trillion, on projects to help fight climate change. So the interviewer asks her, well, then, what is the result that you would hope to achieve if Parliament goes ahead? Can you play that clip and notice how she has no answer?
SPEAKER 08 :
Here we go.
SPEAKER 27 :
to spend $2 trillion saving the world, but can’t answer one simple question.
SPEAKER 25 :
If we do what you want, which is spend 1.5 trillion pounds, which is about eight years worth of the NHS budget, by what percentage will we reduce global temperatures about which you’re so concerned?
SPEAKER 06 :
Your argument is silly. You are saying leaving is not telling people what they want to hear.
SPEAKER 25 :
You’ve got to tell the people of Britain if you want to spend 1.5 trillions.
SPEAKER 06 :
And you brought this man in just to argue with me.
SPEAKER 25 :
If you were to spend £1.5 trillion of British taxpayers’ money, what result would you achieve? I think people would like to know that.
SPEAKER 06 :
What we need is deliberative democracy. We need participatory budgeting. So you don’t know? I know what we need.
SPEAKER 08 :
In other words, she can’t answer the question.
SPEAKER 14 :
I know what we need. She’s a high priestess in the Church of the Climate Change.
SPEAKER 08 :
Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah, great way to say it, by the way. Great way to say it.
SPEAKER 14 :
Now, a little more serious. Remember about six weeks ago, one of the Doge guys got carjacked in Washington, D.C., and he got beat to, I don’t know if you saw the pictures, he got beat to a pulp. I did. Now, of course, you know, Jeanine Pirro used to be referred to as Judge Jeanine Pirro on Fox. She was now the district attorney for Washington, D.C. Well, she gave a press conference in which she gives the background, because the people who carjacked him and beat him to a bloody pulp were eventually caught. And she gives a background of these thugs and why they were still on the street. And you only want to start that clip, John, I think at the 11-something mark. You don’t want to play the whole thing.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay, here we go. I can do that right now.
SPEAKER 22 :
I want you to follow me on this.
SPEAKER 08 :
I don’t know why that’s not playing as loud as it should. Let me double-check, make sure sound is good. It is.
SPEAKER 22 :
Lawrence Cotton Powell is 19 years of age.
SPEAKER 08 :
He’s now charged with robbery, first-degree robbery, for which he faces 15 years in prison. He also faces a charge of assault with intent to commit robbery another 15 years.
SPEAKER 22 :
And robbery for Edward Corstein, 15 years. Assault with intent to commit robbery, another 15 years. And attempted carjacking, five years. Now, let me tell you this background. On April 3rd of this year, Lawrence Cotton Powell was sentenced for a felony attempted robbery. My office asked for jail time. Judge McClain, a judge sitting in the criminal part in Superior Court with no criminal background, made a decision to give Cotton Powell probation in spite of his conviction on a felony attempted robbery. Within 31 days, by May 4th, Powell reoffends. He’s rearrested while he’s on probation from the felony, and he’s charged with simple assault and possession of a prohibited weapon, B. On May 4th, my office asked that probation be revoked. But on May 16th, that same Judge McClain comes back and releases Cotton Powell and tells him, basically, be a good boy. On July 24th, he is sentenced to one of the two misdemeanors that he’s charged with. Again, my office asked for jail time after he victimized yet another person. And on July 25th, another judge suspends his sentence and decides that he should be on probation. So after a felony of attempted robbery conviction, after a violation of probation, after a second crime, after a second conviction, after no compliance with CSOSA, the judges say do better and they let him go.
SPEAKER 08 :
Joe, if you and I had done any of that, we’d be in the slammer.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 08 :
So I’m sorry to say, but we would be.
SPEAKER 14 :
So he violates his probation. And not only doesn’t the judge revoke his probation for the first crime, which he should have happened because he violated his probation, he gives him probation for the second crime. So now he’s on double probation. Remember Animal House, double secret probation?
SPEAKER 16 :
Right.
SPEAKER 14 :
So now he’s on double secret probation. And then 10 days later, he goes out and beats this kid to a pulp. Jeez.
SPEAKER 08 :
Unbelievable.
SPEAKER 14 :
That’s the state of our judges.
SPEAKER 08 :
And again, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that, Joe, if you and I did anything along those lines, it would be a horse of a different color. Totally.
SPEAKER 14 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 08 :
It would not be the same.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yep. So that’s what’s going on with our appointed judges, John. Yep. It’s a travesty.
SPEAKER 08 :
And people get injured and maimed and other things because of that.
SPEAKER 14 :
Right. And if those areas where you have the ability to vote for prosecutors and vote for your judges— Those are important.
SPEAKER 08 :
They are.
SPEAKER 14 :
A lot of people only vote for the top line. Pay attention to who you’re voting for.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. Absolutely. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 14 :
All right. I want to talk about No Kings. I’ve got a couple of clips. Before we get to the clips, some in Denver. There was a booth at the Denver No Kings rally. Remember how Charlie Kirk used to go around, and he used to have these things like, abortion is murder, change my mind. He used to have these signs out. He used to challenge people to debate him. Well, I don’t know if you saw the pictures of some of the booths at the Denver No Kings rally.
SPEAKER 08 :
I did not.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, one of the booths, they had a couple. They had a sign out in front of their booth, or their tent, rather. Charlie Kirk had it coming, changed my mind. How sick is that? Wow, that is sick. And then another sign, MAGA, make assassination great.
SPEAKER 08 :
I did see that one.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER 08 :
Unbelievable.
SPEAKER 14 :
John, it’s sickening. And I get it.
SPEAKER 08 :
It’s free speech. They can do whatever they want to, but that just shows you how sick and twisted they are.
SPEAKER 14 :
Right. And in a little bit, if we get to it, Bill Maher has another clip. I know we played one last week. This is a different clip. And Bill Maher is telling the Democrat Party, look, these young, crazy liberals are hurting your chance of winning.
SPEAKER 08 :
They are.
SPEAKER 14 :
And this is the type of thing that are turning people off to the Democrat Party.
SPEAKER 08 :
I can play that if you want.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, why don’t we play it right now? OK, but John, be careful.
SPEAKER 05 :
I got it. I got it. Here we go. Serious problem for Democrats. Less than one in four Democrats under 30 say they’re proud to be an American. Fifty four percent say they’re embarrassed by it. Embarrassed. Like America is your mom picking you up at school. You’re embarrassed to be an American? Well, guess what? The feeling’s mutual because you have no perspective. Is America perfect? No, of course not. No country is, although don’t get Tucker Carlson started on Russia. Globalize the intifada is the catchphrase that’s really catching on these days, as if worldwide suicide bombing and cosplaying Islamic revolutionaries is the answer to our problems. At an AOC Bernie Sanders rally in Idaho last month, someone threw a Palestinian flag over an American flag, and the crowd erupted in approval. What should have happened after that is one of the adults on stage should have told their young loyal followers, this is not a symbol of freedom. This is. If the thought leaders in the Democratic Party keep encouraging and not rebuking the idea that America is cringe and the people who run Gaza are great, the Democrats are doomed. Alyssa Slotkin’s right. Liberals are weak and woke, especially the white ones, and they indulge all sorts of nonsense from their kids, a pattern that then continues on in the Democratic Party. Last election, it was all the gender stuff, the insistence that men can have babies and such. And now I fear that we like the terrorists is the new that liberals need to push back on the dumb ideas that come from their children. The Democrats problem is the energy of the parties with the young and the younger with the terrorists. That’s not good.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah. And by the way, he’s 100 percent correct. And I hope it doesn’t change, by the way.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah. And again, Bill Maher is a lefty. He’s a far left.
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, you betcha he is. Yeah, so he’s not— But he has some common sense. I mean, I don’t agree with him. The only thing I agree with Bill on is he’s a guy I think I at least sit down and have a conversation with. He and I could spar, go back and forth, and at the end of the day shake hands and go about our merry way, and there wouldn’t be any hard feelings. And that’s the way it ought to be, Joe. The rest of his party can’t do that.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, and he’s trying to tell his party, look, dummies, if you want to ever win another election, you’ve got to do something about these young, crazy white liberals— They’re going to ruin the party.
SPEAKER 08 :
I hope that his message doesn’t get out there. I hope these kids don’t listen to him and the rest of the party doesn’t listen to him, Joe, because he’s right, and it will mess up the party, and I’m okay with that.
SPEAKER 14 :
Right, and here’s another example. You’ve got a clip. This guy, he was at No Kings Rally in Chicago. Now, this guy is a college professor. He got canned, by the way. He’s a professor at the Wilbur Wright College in Chicago, which is part of the Chicago college system. And he’s literally calling for the crowd, get some guns, turn them on these ICE agents, and shoot the ICE. We’ve got to get rid of these ICE agents. He’s literally calling for violence against ICE agents. He’s a college professor.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay, I’ve got to figure out which one this is. I think I’ve got it up. Let me hit the—hang on, I’ve got to rewind it just a tad here. And there we go.
SPEAKER 24 :
No Kings protesters should be arrested after he tells people to grab a gun and go after ICE. Watch.
SPEAKER 21 :
You’ve got to grab a gun. We’ve got to turn around the guns on this fascist system. These ICE agents are going to get shot and wiped out. This state, the state machinery, that’s a full display right there, has to get wiped out.
SPEAKER 08 :
And, Joe, again, I’ll protect that guy’s right to say that all day long, but that has consequences. Yep, and he lost his job over it. Good.
SPEAKER 14 :
He should. And, again, I think he’s turning off Democrat voters because he’s saying these ICE agents got to get shot. We got to wipe them out. That is not American. Those are not American guys.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, and that is inciting violence. That’s actually threatening at the end of the day. Not only should he lose his job, the guy ought to be behind bars, Joe.
SPEAKER 14 :
He should, and I think the DOJ is actually looking at— They should be.
SPEAKER 08 :
You can’t say those things and not have consequences. I mean, you have speech, but there’s consequences for that speech.
SPEAKER 14 :
Right, and I think him losing his job is his first. Now, at the other laughable extreme— There’s an older white woman. She’s probably in her 50s, maybe 60. And he’s basically saying, well, what are you protesting? What are you hoping to achieve? And she has no clue.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right. I didn’t play this one. I talked about it the other day, but here we go.
SPEAKER 28 :
So what brings you out today?
SPEAKER 23 :
No King’s Day.
SPEAKER 28 :
And why specifically are you out supporting no King’s Day?
SPEAKER 23 :
I think protest is important.
SPEAKER 28 :
Why are you protesting?
SPEAKER 23 :
How much time do you have? couple minutes it what’s the main reason you’re out here protesting president romeo with a lot of the decisions that are being made is there any decision in particular you disagree with where okay so i i would start with Well, I don’t even think it’s appropriate for me to have this interview.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, yeah, because you’re a dodo head. Sorry, but she is.
SPEAKER 14 :
For those people who aren’t aware of this, the Soros family is providing a tremendous amount of funding. Yes, they are. The No Kings rallies, I forget how many cities they took place in, like 126 cities. If you look at the videos from Boston and Dallas and L.A., John, you’ll notice the same professionally printed signs. These aren’t people that went to the local staples. John, these signs were printed by the thousands. And logistically, what does it take to have 10,000? And it wasn’t just one sign. There were three or four signs that you would see at every single rally. Each one was professionally printed. You would see that same sign. Maybe 500 people were carrying one of those three signs at Rally A, 500 miles away, another 500 people were carrying the same signs.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, it tells you that’s very organized when that happens.
SPEAKER 14 :
Right. So let’s say that they were printed 10,000 each of those signs, mounted them on wooden sign boards, and distributed them to 126 cities. That doesn’t – that’s not organic, John.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, it is not. No, no, that’s very well orchestrated. Somebody has to fund all of that. That doesn’t get done automatically, as you know, Joe.
SPEAKER 14 :
And it’s the Soros family. Now, George Soros himself is pretty much – he’s 80-something.
SPEAKER 08 :
His son, though – It’s his kid that’s doing a lot of that.
SPEAKER 14 :
His kid is doing a lot of that.
SPEAKER 08 :
And he’s more of a Marxist than his dad is.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 08 :
If that’s possible, but I think it is.
SPEAKER 14 :
It is, yes. So, again, these No Kings rallies are far from organic. And there’s also – if you go on – there’s –
SPEAKER 08 :
Rent-a-crowd, or crowd… Rent-a… You’re kidding me. Rent-a-crowd?
SPEAKER 14 :
No, no, no, no, no. John, there’s actually… There’s actually… If you go… Oh, you’re kidding me. No, John, I kid you not. There’s… If you go on the Internet, let me just… I’ll give the name of a couple of them. These are… Oh, my word.
SPEAKER 08 :
I mean, that does not surprise me, but that’s just too funny, Joe. Rent-a-crowd.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, it’s called… John, Google Crowds on Demand, and they’ll rent you protesters for $500 per day per protester for an eight-hour day. Just Google Crowds on Demand.
SPEAKER 08 :
I just did. Crowds, yeah, I see it. Crowds on demand. You got it. Unbelievable.
SPEAKER 14 :
And they’re not the only one. There are several organizations like that. And, John, and you can go, and if you want a gig, you know, you want a part-time, you want to, you know, they call it the gig economy where you can get a job, you know, either as a bartender. You can get a job as a protester, John. You just sign up with any of these agencies.
SPEAKER 08 :
And I got to know what the particular mantra for the day is, and off you go. Who cares?
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, who cares? You’re going to get paid either way. So, folks, Google Crowds on Demand, and again, they are not unique.
SPEAKER 08 :
Unbelievable. Who knew?
SPEAKER 14 :
Who knew? Crowds on Demand, it’s a new industry, John, crowdsourcing.
SPEAKER 08 :
I had no, I mean, okay, whoever the guy is that got behind this, and I guess more power to them, there’s money to be made. Go for it, Joe.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yep. Speaking of money, I know we’re running out of time, John.
SPEAKER 08 :
Go ahead.
SPEAKER 14 :
Speaking of money, you’re with GoFundMe, right?
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, yes.
SPEAKER 14 :
Now, did you hear what they decided to, on their own, create 1.4 million new sites for charities and universities. And for people who haven’t heard about it, GoFundMe, without the approval or consent of these organizations, decided they were going to create 1.4 million new GoFundMe, like American Cancer Society, Salvation Army, Harvard, Yale, your alma mater, CSU. So if you want to say, you know, donate to CSU, one of the things that will pop up is a GoFundMe site. Well, none of those organizations said, yes, we endorse this. Now, they will get their money, but GoFundMe is going to take a cut.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, they’ll take a cut off top. Sure, that’s how they make money.
SPEAKER 14 :
Right.
SPEAKER 08 :
So if you want to donate— And they’re probably taking, I don’t know, Joe, what, 2% to 5% I’m guessing off the top probably?
SPEAKER 14 :
Three to five.
SPEAKER 08 :
Three to five. Okay, three to five.
SPEAKER 14 :
And by the way, your alma mater, if you donate through GoFundMe, your alma mater will never know you donated.
SPEAKER 08 :
Because it just comes from GoFundMe.
SPEAKER 14 :
GoFundMe. Gotcha. Do not donate to any charity or college or university through GoFundMe. Can we squeeze in one more about RTD? Yeah, sure, go ahead. RTD, $2.7 billion in debt.
SPEAKER 08 :
By the way, my wife calls RTD a reason to drive, Joe.
SPEAKER 14 :
Right. This was in one of the local, I don’t think it was the Denver Post, one of the Denver area papers, did a summary. Where are they today? They’re $2.7 billion in debt. Fair revenues account for just 4.4% of their operating costs. John, can you imagine? No, I don’t know. Which means 95% of the cost of RTD is being paid for by taxpayer dollars and sales tax.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 14 :
and now they want to borrow $539 billion to buy more diesel buses. They were originally going to buy hybrid buses, but the company that was making them said it wasn’t viable. We’ve stopped making hybrid buses. So you’re $2.7 million in debt. Revenues are less than 5% of cost, and they want to borrow $500. John, I think it would be better for the taxpayers of Denver to give everybody who wants to ride RTD a Uber card every month and say, here, use this card, and we’ll send an Uber card.
SPEAKER 08 :
Years ago, it’s been probably almost a decade now, Joe, but I sat down and ran through RTD’s budget, figured out exactly how many riders there were, did all the math back in the day, and I figured out back then… For the amount of money that was spending then, keep in mind that’s a decade ago. It’s worse now than it was then because ridership is even less than it was then. You could buy every single disabled person that really needed to actually use the mass transit system, you could buy them a car.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yep. And, John, you’re 100% correct. And, again, they could pay for an Uber ride for everybody.
SPEAKER 08 :
Absolutely. Easily.
SPEAKER 14 :
Easily. Yep. So, again, at one point at its peak, fares were 21% of costs. It’s fallen from 21% of cost to 4.4% of cost.
SPEAKER 08 :
Unbelievable. It’s one of those systems that, honestly, Joe, and I know it won’t happen, but it just needs to go bye-bye.
SPEAKER 14 :
And, John, you don’t drive – I used to drive up and down I-25 from my place in Larkspur, you know, up to Denver. Right. And I would parallel the tracks. The tracks go up the west side of – and I would look at this three- or four-car train – that have two, three… I do it all the time, Joe.
SPEAKER 08 :
I mean, I run all over town and watch the light rail, especially off on 225 as I’m coming down this direction to the station. Same thing, Joe. It doesn’t matter what time of the day it is. It’s all the same. What you just explained is what it is.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, two to four people on a three-car train.
SPEAKER 08 :
Unless it’s a game day and people are riding to and from a Bronco game or something, there’s nobody on.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, but 8 o’clock in the morning on a Thursday, John, it’s two to four people on a train.
SPEAKER 08 :
I know. It’s ridiculous, Joe.
SPEAKER 14 :
All right.
SPEAKER 08 :
Man, as always, I appreciate it, Joe. Thank you very much. Thanks for your wisdom. You’re welcome. I’ll talk to you next week. All right, man. Have a great week. We appreciate it very much. Up next, Geno’s Auto Service. Anything you need for your vehicle, they’re there to take care of you. Full bumper-to-bumper service, genosautoservice.com. And Geno starts with a J.
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SPEAKER 20 :
This is Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 08 :
And we are back. Jennifer, welcome. How are you today? I’m fine, John. And yourself? I’m doing well.
SPEAKER 09 :
Great. As for the strategic oil reserves, let’s remember back to 2019 when tankers were loaded with oil and they couldn’t basically give it away. And Donald Trump wanted to buy a bunch of it and fill the strategic oil reserve for like $10 a barrel. And the Democrats in Congress, Nancy Pelosi, wouldn’t allow the money to be spent for that.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. I forgot about that. You’re right.
SPEAKER 09 :
But one of the things about it is, if you go back to when the Strategic Oil Reserve was originally put up, made, the geologists were quite strict about this, that you cannot continue to fill and empty that oil reserve because it’s made out of a cavern that’s made out of salt. And after a few times, those salt walls are going to collapse, and it’s going to become unusable.
SPEAKER 08 :
I didn’t know that. Okay.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah. You might only have one or two more times that you can play with it before it goes south on you. Interesting.
SPEAKER 08 :
So how far – here’s a dumb question maybe on my part. How far down can it go? In other words, right now we’re at half capacity. Is that even endangering what you just said by doing that?
SPEAKER 09 :
Um, I do not know. But the thing is, if you fill it up more and then you reduce it, you’re just speeding up the process of its degeneration.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, so this goes along the lines of what I’m talking about then. So no offense, Jennifer, why do we need it?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, it was intended in case.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, I mean, yeah, back in the day. And by the way, I think when it was first done, I think it had great value. We were at a point in time where we weren’t producing what we are today. We weren’t the number one producer of oil on the planet. And at that point in time, I could see having it. I think just my own personal opinion is we’ve grown way past that. I think they should empty the thing and not worry about it.
SPEAKER 09 :
I believe it was established under Nixon in 1973 during the oil embargo.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, it would make sense.
SPEAKER 09 :
And, you know, I can see having a strategic reserve in the event that you need it to be able to furnish it to the military, because those jets… And a lot of those ships still run on oil.
SPEAKER 08 :
But to Joe’s point, we produce right now, currently, I did the math a little bit ago, we’re at almost 14 million barrels a day, not quite. As a country, if everybody drives and does everything and industry keeps going, we use 21 million barrels a day. So if you cut back on some of what we would use, and because we had to fund some sort of a military operation, Jennifer, we can produce enough daily to do it without even tapping into that thing.
SPEAKER 09 :
Where are we getting the extra 6 million barrels a day?
SPEAKER 08 :
Right now? We import it? Yeah. Mostly from, and that’s a great question, because everybody thinks it all comes from the Middle East. Actually, very little comes from the Middle East. Most of what we import today to cover up that 6 million is coming from Mexico and Canada.
SPEAKER 09 :
I don’t think we should put a lot of money into it, but I don’t think it’s a bad idea to keep this thing in reserve.
SPEAKER 08 :
I mean, if we’ve already got it, I guess where I would come from on this end of it is, okay, if we’ve already got it, it’s already at 400 million barrels. That’s what’s sitting in there right now. We’ve got a capacity of 700. If it gets really cheap and we want to add to it, okay, so be it. But am I somebody that worries about what level it’s at? Jennifer, I haven’t lost an ounce of sleep over that one.
SPEAKER 09 :
Understood. Oh, by the way, today is a very special day, October 23rd.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 09 :
Back in the mid-1600s, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Reverend James Usher, declared that the world began on October 23rd in the year 4004 B.C. at 945 A.M. I did not know that. And the reason it was October 23rd at 9.49 a.m. is because that’s when classes started at Cambridge.
SPEAKER 08 :
Ah, okay. I didn’t know that. And really quick, I did check, and you were correct, that the Reserve did start in 1975 to mitigate future supply disruptions as a part of the International Agreement on International Energy, in the International Energy Program. So, you know, to your point, and at one time, and I thought originally it was designed for the military. I guess I didn’t realize that it wasn’t even a military thing as much as it was just to handle disruptions in supply because of what was going on at that time, what we had just been through, I guess you could say. But again, Jennifer, we’re way past that. We’re not relying on that anymore like we once were.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Yep, yep.
SPEAKER 08 :
So the reality is, and again, going back to what we were talking about, at its time, would I have been for that? Absolutely. And at that time, that’s exactly what we should have done. Fortunately, over the past, what, roughly 50 years, we’ve gotten to the point where we’re producing more than any other nation, so we’re doing fine. And the reality, too, Jennifer, is there’s actually estimates out there, and Joe probably would even know this better than I or even Daniel from Power of the Future, we could get to that $20 million a day that we need if government would allow it. Use Colorado for an example, Jennifer. Right now, this state, because of Polis, has shut down any exploration of new wells and things along those lines. Think about where we’d be if us and other states like California that don’t allow drilling, just think where we’d be as a country if they were.
SPEAKER 09 :
Oh, sure. But remember, there is a lag. There is a lag.
SPEAKER 08 :
If you released and made it somehow, and I get states’ rights and all of that, and I’m not trying to say that we should ever overstep our bounds that way, but you’ve got to start stepping in at some point when you get states like California and Colorado that say, yep, no more oil wells here. Jennifer, that’s a national security thing in my opinion, and that is one of those areas I think the Fed should be able to step in and say, yeah, guys, no, you can’t do that.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, that’s true. But always keep in mind that it doesn’t take very long for other countries to shut off the spigot.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. I’m one, Jennifer. I would love to see us get to the point where we’re cranking out the $20 million that we use a day.
SPEAKER 09 :
Oh, sure. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 08 :
And I’ll have somebody that will call or text. I get it. We use different oil from different sources because of our refineries and so on, and nobody knows that better than I. And I get all of that. And we wouldn’t use all 20 million that we produce. We still need some of the other sour crude that comes in because ours is sweet crude. And I get all that. So before somebody texts or emails or does whatever, I understand all of that. But, Jennifer, you know my analysis here is let’s at least produce what we use. Even if we have to trade to get the right oil in the refinery, let’s at least produce what we use.
SPEAKER 09 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s my take.
SPEAKER 09 :
Anyway.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, good stuff. No, thank you. Thank you. Good stuff, Jennifer. And thank you for the history lesson there as well. All right. Roof Savers of Colorado coming up next. And whatever you need when it comes to your roof, whether it’s a commercial roof, whether it’s a residential roof. By the way, he’s looking for a salesperson as well. So if you’re looking for a job, give Dave a call. And don’t forget, with the RoofMax product, they can rejuvenate your current roof, making it last longer. Five-year guarantee on that. And typically lasts up to 15 years. 303-710-6916.
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SPEAKER 08 :
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SPEAKER 18 :
The best export we have is Common Sense. You’re listening to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 08 :
All righty. And several of you texting in, by the way, not only about oil, but I had somebody text in about nuclear power. I’ll get to that one in a moment as well. But a couple of you, like me, have learned some things even from Jennifer a moment ago. As I did some research on the Strategic Reserve, I, like a lot of people, I think, assumed that was for the military end of things only. And everything that I have read, as we were talking a moment ago, as Jennifer and I were talking, No, not the case. Now, it would have some use militarily speaking, but it wasn’t designed for that. It was literally designed as a supply buffer back in the day because of what we had went through with all of the oil embargoes and so on of the early 70s. It was designed. It was put into play. to help ward that off if that were ever to come again. It had nothing to do, militarily speaking. Now, I get it. We still need fuel and all of that for our military, so I guess as a byproduct, we would always have it for that. But that was not its original intention. So I learned some things today. I’m sure a few of you did as well because I was always under the impression that that was their militarily speaking only. I did have somebody text in from Wyoming that said that they have – They have really, I guess you could say, hard feelings against nuclear power because of the nuclear waste that’s generated and it’s being buried in some places in Wyoming. And I basically said it’s still the cheapest form and safest form of energy that we have. And then I got a comment of, and then bury it in my backyard. I don’t care. Fine. Pay me. That’s the way it works. Pay me. I’ll take it. The reality is there’s such little waste generated out of the nuclear end of things. All you have to do is go study a little bit, and I have. I’ve actually interviewed some folks from the energy department, some folks from the nuclear sides of the energy department. I’ve had them on as well. They didn’t have any stake in the game, weren’t right, left, middle, whatever. They just came on and spoke publicly. directly about nuclear energy and all of that. I also follow some folks on social media that, by the way, I can’t tell whether they’re left, right, or in the middle. They don’t speak politics. They just simply talk about the energy itself. And what I have learned is it is still the safest form of energy that we’ve ever encountered, and the waste is literally minimal. And there’s a lot of misconception around the waste and how radioactive and how dangerous it may actually be. And there’s a lot more there than—again, there’s a lot of wives’ tales surrounding nuclear energy that most people really don’t understand. So before you say, go bury it in my yard, go do some research on that and learn exactly what’s actually involved with that, because most people really have no idea what— how all that works. Golden Eagle Financial coming up next. Al Smith, when it comes to your financial future, talk to Al today. Find him at klzradio.com.
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SPEAKER 18 :
It’s time to leave your safe space. This is Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 08 :
Actually, too, really quick on the nuclear waste. I had a text message from somebody that just said that there’s development being undertaken as we speak to actually take that spent waste and even reuse it all over again. Now, it’s highly technical and most likely expensive, but there’s developments in that as well. And still, I’m one that says nuclear is— In and of itself, a lot of potential. I don’t think we’ve even gotten into what we could possibly do there. There’s so much more potential. Unfortunately, as a country, I explain it this way. It’s a lot like diesel engines that were for the longest time, in America especially, not in any cars because of General Motors. One of the biggest boondoggles General Motors ever had was they took a gas engine, repurposed it, turned it into a diesel. It was called the Oldsmobile diesel. And it was back in the 70s. And it was a piece of crap. It was awful. And it was touted as, you know, being in this car and that car. And it came in some trucks and so on. And it was going to be the best thing since sliced bread. And frankly, it wasn’t a great idea. But instead of developing something from the ground up, again, they repurposed a gas engine. Dumbest thing GM ever did. And in turn, they ruined a ton of people on buying diesel engines. They were stinky. They were low power. They didn’t work very well. They were always broken. They really were a piece of junk. I have no other way to say it. I was around, just started my career in the automotive world when those things were around. They were junk, literally junk. And they soured a lot of people on buying diesel engines. When the rest of the world, Europe included, were running on diesel engines, we couldn’t figure out how to do it because we made a huge misstep with that one. I look at nuclear energy is exactly the same way. Lots of countries use nuclear energy on a daily basis. It works well. You heard Daniel talking about that from Power of the Future. Daniel Turner talking about France, which if those guys can do it, I don’t know. We can’t. But we got spoiled here. The environmental movement got huge. They got on the bandwagon. We had a little bit of a hiccup with the Three Mile Island deal, which, by the way, there was no contamination. Nobody got injured. Nobody got hurt. Nobody got killed. There was no issues there whatsoever. But it literally started to kill the nuclear program after that. At that point in time, we were putting plants up right and left. We were doing really well. Things were steamrolling along, and that killed it, literally killed it. And there’s no reason for it. It is still the cleanest form of energy that we have and the most efficient form of energy that we have. And we could be developing that even further along if we get back into it. And the reality is because of the fear factor, even the fear of waste, like a texter just sent me, because of that, we don’t do it. And it’s dumb. It really is dumb. We could literally be so much further ahead and all of the nonsense dinking around that we have spent on wind and solar and all of that nonsense, literally nonsense, you could have shelved all of that and done nuclear instead. We would have been much further ahead. But we didn’t. Again, because of that fear factor, I believe the fear factor of nuclear, we haven’t gone down that path. And it really, folks, I don’t have no other word for it. It’s dumb. It’s dumb that we’re not doing that. We have the ability to do it and do it better than any other country, and we’re not because we’re fearful, which is just ridiculous. I don’t know. We’ll see if we can ever turn the corner there. Hopefully we can. Maybe some of the next generations will figure out and learn enough that it isn’t as big of a bad thing as what everybody out there thinks, and it’s not. Hopefully we’ll get to the point where we actually can use All right, we’ll take a break. We had a call coming in. Dr. Scott coming up next. And again, Scott is a great doctor. He’s my doctor. He’d love to help you with all of your medical needs and just to stay healthy. That’s the biggest thing is stay healthy. 303-663-6990.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 20 :
Stay up to date with Rush to Reason after the show on Twitter at Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 15 :
All right, Dan, you’re up. Go ahead, sir. So, quick comment by my son today that I talked to him. The protest from Saturday.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 15 :
The no kings. They actually accomplished something because, you know, we haven’t had a king in this country since 1775. Right. So, good for them, right? Yeah, good for them.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, they’ve accomplished their mission.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, no kings.
SPEAKER 08 :
No kings.
SPEAKER 15 :
We haven’t had a king for 200 years, right?
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, and again, these are individuals that, frankly, this is what’s so funny about it. Not to take a lot of time here, Dan, but this is what’s so funny. These are people that probably would actually follow a king as long as it was their king.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yes, exactly.
SPEAKER 08 :
And I’m not exaggerating when I say that. These are people that would follow a king. They just want it to be their king, not Donald Trump.
SPEAKER 15 :
But they don’t have a choice of a king when we’re in a monarchy, right? That’s right.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, they don’t get their choice. You’re exactly right, 100%. Yep.
SPEAKER 15 :
So anyway, I just thought I’d— No, that’s right. I thought that was a great comment.
SPEAKER 1 :
100%.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, he is right. Tell him thank you and, you know, kind of tongue-in-cheek, but there’s some seriousness to that as well. And I mean what I say, folks. These are individuals that I think if you really sat down, if you could ever get them past all of their feelings, because that’s literally what they’re doing— By the way, not the paid protesters Joe and I were talking about. People that are there that are really protesting because they’ve got their heart in it, which there are some of those there. Not all, but there are some there. I firmly believe if you get some of those people off to the side and really say, OK, hey, what do you really want here when it’s all said and done? I think you could actually get them to really come out and say, you know what? As long as it’s not Donald Trump, they’d follow anybody, any king, quote unquote. I don’t think they even understand what the definition is. And I can tell you this. They don’t understand the definition of a republic versus a democracy. And I can tell you right now that’s because the left has brainwashed people into thinking that we have a democracy. It’s why every single celebrity, a lot of politicians, a lot of folks on TV, a lot of news reporters will talk about democracy like we’re in one. when in fact we are not. That shows you how well they’ve done, the Marxists, how well they’ve done at brainwashing people into thinking that we actually live in a democracy when in fact we don’t. So I always laugh when people say, Donald Trump is a threat to democracy, and I always say, I hope so. I’m glad he is because that’s the last thing that we want for this country is to be a democracy. We want to stay a republic, a constitutional republic, which is what we are. All right. With that, guys, have a great night. Be safe tomorrow. We’ve got movies coming up, and I can tell you really quick what those are. Andy’s going to be reviewing Shelby Oaks and Chainsaw Man and then binge-worthy TV or movie series. That’s tomorrow. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
Popcorn to Politics: Rush to Reason’s Friday Firestorm