In this engaging episode of Rush to Reason, John Rush dives deep into the imminent government shutdown, analyzing its potential impact on federal workers and exploring whether these shutdowns are more political strategy than necessity. With listener calls and insightful discussions, we explore the nuances and possible repercussions of the country’s political climate, engaging with the idea that politicians could be using these shutdowns as a strategic maneuver for upcoming elections.
SPEAKER 06 :
This is Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 19 :
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 06 :
With your host, John Rush.
SPEAKER 18 :
My advice to you is to do what your parents did.
SPEAKER 15 :
Get a job first. You haven’t made everybody equal. You’ve made them the same and there’s a big difference.
SPEAKER 12 :
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 15 :
Are you crazy?
SPEAKER 03 :
Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 16 :
It’s Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush, presented by Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, hour number two, Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Again, thank you all for listening. Yes, we’re having some issues on the streaming side for some of you that maybe are able to hear us over the air but are struggling to hear us on an app. Yes, there’s a Comcast regional outage that is… causing issues all around town not just with us but in general causing issues so if you’re having that you can notify me but we know and when it’s back it’s back and as you guys all know anybody that’s had any kind of internet outages with Comcast know that we have zero control over that end of things and I’m sure there’s a lot of people that are very passionately trying to get that resolved with them. And, again, we are all beholden to what they tell us. So, all right, government shutdown is looming October 1st. And I saw some hyped-up news today where there’s some claims that there will be 100,000 government workers that are looking to resign. And just so you all know, That is a minute number when it’s all said and done. It sounds like a big number, 100,000 workers, but in relation to all government workers, it’s not. In fact, I will look up here what the actual number is right now. It’s in the millions. And federal government, I should look up. There’s 2.9, so almost 3 million federal government workers. 20 million, by the way, state and local government. Totally 23 million. Too much, by the way. Too much. Far too much, in my opinion. That’s about, what, 8% or so, Charlie, probably of the total, well, not quite, 5%? No, it’s higher than that. I’ve got to do the math. 7% is my guess of workers, or not workers, of the population. Keep in mind, that includes kids and elderly that aren’t working and can’t work and won’t work and have no ability to work, I should say, because there’s roughly 340 million people in the U.S. and 23 million of them… are government workers of some type. Too many across the board. Especially now with AI. Far too many. And that’s the one thing that I’m hoping for. A lot of you will text me at times and say, here’s an AI article. We know how much you love AI. And just so everybody knows, it’s not that I love it. It’s not that I hate it either. I’m not a lover or hater of AI. It’s a tool. Just like when I go to my toolbox and I did some work over the weekend on some things, just when I go to a toolbox and pull out a wrench, I don’t love or hate that wrench. Now, some wrenches I really do like because they’re made very well. And I’m a snap-on guy when it comes to wrenches. And I’m not going to go down that path because there’s haters and lovers of. But at the end of the day, it’s not that I love or hate a tool. It’s a tool. No more than I love or hate a computer or a phone or anything else. It’s a tool. In my opinion, it’s a tool. I don’t look at any differently than that. I look at AI exactly the same way. What I’m hoping for, though, when it comes to AI is on the government sides of things, I am hoping that AI will come along and replace a certain amount of government workers and improve the efficiency of government through AI. And hopefully it will. The problem with government is they’re not going to like that. Because once a government worker, always a government worker. Sorry, if there’s any of you out there listening that are government workers, I’m sorry, but you probably are really hardworking, but I guarantee you, you could verify some of what I’m saying based upon some of the people that you even work with. And by the way, I know that’s the case because some of you have told me that. You have verified what I say at times when it comes to government workers because you are one and you work around some. And you know exactly what I’m talking about. And you’ll verify what I’m saying. Most aren’t worth having and are really there because they got the job or they’re not going anywhere and they know they can’t be fired. So going back to the shutdown, which this is, I think, a big mistake on the part of the Dems. I think this could very easily backfire on them. I’m not really sure what they’re thinking about. They, of course, in a nutshell, we talked about this some last week, but they’re not in favor of passing the current bill that would continue government on for another, what is it, 60 days, I want to say, Charlie, roughly 45 to 60 days. Don’t quote me on that, but I think that’s what it is. They don’t want that because they want a lot of the things that we’re taking out of budget in the big, beautiful bill. They want some of those things reinstated or they’re not going to continue to run government. And what they’re going to do. during this next election cycle in 2026 is they’re going to come back to voters and say, look, see what we did? We were fighting for your best interests. We wanted those things put back in. So we decided to shut government down to take a stand. Now, remember, this is the party that every single time in the past that the Republicans didn’t want to vote for something and they wanted to shut government down, and Trump even did for the longest time in history ever during his first term. And all the left does is blame Trump. conservatives and the right for doing so. So again, to me, this is going to backfire on them because they’re essentially going to eat their own words. They’re going to be for something that they’ve said all along they’re not for. So it’ll be interesting to see how this works out. We’ll take a quick break. We’ll come right back. Have plenty of time for Bob that way. Paul Lumberger, my good friend and my insurance broker, is there to help you with all of your insurance needs. Give Paul a call today. Call him at 303-662-0789.
SPEAKER 11 :
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SPEAKER 13 :
Putting reason into your afternoon drive. This is John Rush.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush. Bob, you’re next. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hey, you know, John, I sent you some background on all this. Let’s talk about the Federal Reserve. You had somebody on last week talking about the Federal Reserve, and I think I told you that it was concocted in the year 1910 on Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia with a bunch of, not a bunch, a handful of wealthy bankers at that time scattered throughout the country was a lot of private banks. That’s why the bad guys used to rob banks, because that’s where the money was. And they decided that it would be a good idea to have a central bank. And so in 1913, that passed, and it went into effect in 1914, roughly 110 years ago. Their original employment there was 40 people.
SPEAKER 08 :
Forty.
SPEAKER 03 :
Forty. You know what it is now?
SPEAKER 1 :
25,000.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, I was going to say thousands today.
SPEAKER 03 :
400 of which are Ph.D. economists. And they still can’t figure stuff out. And they’re arguing over a quarter of a point of interest. I could settle that with a flip of a coin.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, me too.
SPEAKER 03 :
I mean, it’s absolutely absurd.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, and those are, in my opinion, Bob, you know, we talk about the shutdown and some of the different people that, you know, the unessential, non-essential workers that will be let go, or not let go, but furloughed, as you know. The reality is, Bob, there’s 25,000 of them there you could do that with.
SPEAKER 03 :
If they’re non-essential, that means they’re of no value.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’ll give you another example. I have one of those old posts out in front of my house with a mailbox on it. John, I could screw a garbage can to that and take the mail that I get and throw it directly into the trash. I have absolutely nothing that comes from the post office that has any value whatsoever. None. Zero. You know how many times we need direct mail from the post office? Perhaps once a week.
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, yeah. I mean, I think for me there are some things I still get in the mail, you know, payments and things like that, Bob. But, yeah, even then, all in all, I could do a Wednesday delivery and be just fine.
SPEAKER 03 :
I get nothing. All I get is a bunch of advertising.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, and again, for the non-business folk, that’s probably, I mean, truthfully, you could maybe even do something where if you’re a business, you get delivery on a more frequent basis, but everybody else is a once-a-week deal. And, yeah, I think, Bob, most people would be just fine with that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay. Let’s get back to these interest rates, though. Okay, so there’s John Rush and there’s Bob. And Bob wants to borrow some money from John. And John says, I got some money. I’ll loan it to Bob, and I’ll loan it to him for X amount of years for 5%. And Bob says, that sounds okay. I can do that. Now Bob’s got some money, and John’s a really poor risk, and he wants to borrow some money. And I say, well, you know, John, you’re a poor risk. It’s going to cost you 8% or 9%. Mm-hmm. I’ll loan you that for that. And that’s how interest rates should be, not some idiot that says a quarter of a point is going to change the world overnight. Right. Oh, you can – other than the Defense Department, which I love – I bet you we could get rid of 75% of federal employees.
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, good grief, Bob. Easily. Yeah, there are so many. You go to the state level and could, frankly, probably do the same thing. On the state level, look at, A, what could we farm out to somebody else? In other words, what’s being done that we could farm out to a contractor and get done at a more – uh reasonable price and get a better job at the end of the day because there’s accountability there where let’s face it bob in a lot of cases there’s not when it comes to government workers i’m with you no you you could take that you know roughly three million federal workers and scale that down to at least a million if not less oh yeah uh let me give you an example the state of wyoming all right uh
SPEAKER 03 :
Do you know that the state of Wyoming is the only state in the union in every county that has never borrowed a nickel?
SPEAKER 08 :
Wow. I didn’t know that. No.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know what? If we followed their example and if we followed Oklahoma, did you know that Oklahoma has zero elected Democrats? Zero.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, I did know that. Yeah, I did know that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. So let’s take a look.
SPEAKER 08 :
I guess the biggest reason for that, Bob, is Californians haven’t moved there yet.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, no, they won’t go to Oklahoma.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, wind blows too much, and they don’t like the terrain and everything else, so they’ve done pretty well at keeping them out. But here and other places, oh, man, we have been inundated with them, as you know.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, you know, the people in Wyoming are very nice, and I’ll give you the example of John from Cheyenne. He’s a New Yorker, as I am. When you go to Cheyenne, they’re very nice people, and they’ll welcome you. But don’t think about staying. Move on. And Oklahoma, if you’re not with them, they will shun you. You’re not welcome here. So that’s what that’s all about.
SPEAKER 08 :
And again, to me, Bob, and this is just a side note question for you, though, when it comes to the shutdown, which I think is going to happen. I don’t think they’re going to get this thing fixed by tomorrow night. I’ll be shocked if they do. I think the Democrats are planning on a shutdown. They’re planning on using that against us in the 2026 election. election cycle, but I think they’re sorely mistaken because there’s so many sound bites out there, Bob, against us from them talking about a shutdown that I don’t see how they can reverse course. I get it. The hardcore liberals are going to believe whatever they tell them, but I don’t see how that middle-of-the-road independent voter, if you would, that unaffiliated voter, Bob, I don’t see how they can switch gears with them and tell them that they were against it and now they’re for it. I don’t see how they can make that switch.
SPEAKER 03 :
Here’s what’s going to happen. We’ve had these shutdowns before. They’re worthless. I mean, there’s, oh, well, let’s do this. Okay, now we have the House, slim margin. Senate, slim margin. We’ve got the presidency. If they want to shut it down, the hammer is going to come down. There is going to be a lot of divisions and a lot of employees that are going to be looking for jobs at McDonald’s because they are going to clean house.
SPEAKER 08 :
I think you’re right, Bob, and I think that’s where the left, or the Schumers of the world, they’re not looking at this correctly. And by the way, I think Schumer himself, this is my take on things, Bob, I think he knows exactly what you and I are saying, but his party is pushing for this.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, he backed off on it last time we had one of these.
SPEAKER 08 :
He knows that this doesn’t bode well for them in the end.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m getting real sick of these shutdowns. I bet you we have four or five a year.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, last time we did a long one was under Trump, so I’m guessing that’s coming again Wednesday.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, no, yeah, but I mean, we’ve had four or five a year that come up to the last second. Oh, I know.
SPEAKER 08 :
I don’t think this one is, though. This one’s not going to get figured out. I don’t think they’re going to give in.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, I think the hammer’s coming down. I think the hammer’s coming down.
SPEAKER 08 :
I’m going to run, Bob. Thanks, man, as always. I appreciate it. John and Cheyenne, you’re next. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 04 :
Hey, thanks, Bob. That was nice of you to say that. Yeah, very nice of you. I’m sorry. Really, John, I think Trump is going to use this shutdown like he said he was going to do and go through every federal worker that’s deemed nonessential and say, okay, is your job funded? Or are you one of those employees that got in a position 10 years ago for some two-year project and they never let go? And he’s going to get rid of a whole bunch of people. And the Democrats don’t realize that he’s going to use this and say, Nope, we’re not bringing him back. The other thing, and I don’t know who would do this other than maybe a Rand Paul, if he would sponsor a one-page bill that says if the government shuts down, Congress nor any employee of Congress will get paid and won’t get paid and won’t get back pay when they come back to work. The government would never shut down again. They’re too greedy.
SPEAKER 08 :
Agree. John, just the whole back pay. If you even said, listen, from now on, if there’s a shutdown, there’s no back pay given. If they missed two days, four days, 14 days, whatever the number is, they’re missing a period and there’s no back pay. If they did that even, it wouldn’t happen.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, here’s the other thing. I would love to see them this time say, no, we’re not giving you back pay. If you have vacation time, you could use that when you were out of work. And that would, because federal employee, when I was in the army, I got 30 days paid leave a year. I think federal employees are about at the same rate, 30 days vacation. I’m not sure if it’s a seniority based thing or whatever, but I know they get, they get a bunch of weeks vacation and they can, uh, You know, no, we’re not paying you back pay. You get to use your vacation time if you want to be paid, or we’ll just no pay you.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 04 :
And how many people would lose their minds if they didn’t, you know, because all these federal employees are looking at this and saying, all right, we get an extra two weeks vacation while the government’s closed. They don’t care. They want this to happen because never in the past shutdown have they not gotten back pay.
SPEAKER 07 :
Correct. Correct.
SPEAKER 04 :
And so… The other thing you were talking about is all you have to do is go into any state or I’ll give you a prime example. National Forest Service headquarters is in Laramie for Medicine Bow Route National Forest. Walk in that office to get an annual pass and see how many people are just sitting around that Forest Service office. And my question is, why aren’t they out in the forest? checking the trails, doing all this other stuff. They’re sitting in the office, and what do they do when they get our money? I mean, same thing, National Park. I bet you walk into the office at Rocky Mountain National Park, probably half the staff that works in the office could be let go.
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, John, you could run through every department and do that. Absolutely. Every department without any problem.
SPEAKER 04 :
But that’s the thing. I know for a fact my nephew, I’m going to say this, John, he works for the Federal Reserve Bank. But he’s IT support. He’s an IT guy. He has to work. He has to be available. He told me one time there was a conference call to Japan, and they called him at 1 o’clock in the morning because they were having a Zoom issue, and he had to jump on and start working and get it squared away. Those are the kind of people that won’t get laid off. But the guy that’s sitting in the office drinking coffee, he’s the guy that’s going.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yep. You’re right. But I’m hoping it goes for a week. We’ll see. You could be very well right, John. All right, man. Appreciate you very much. Thank you for that. One last thing before we go to our next break, pothole damage. I was reading something today where who pays? And here’s the kicker. If you can determine through some research that a particular pothole that damaged your vehicle had been there for a while the particular government entity that’s in charge of said pothole had been notified there had been ample time to actually get that pothole repaired and yet it hadn’t been you may actually be able to get them to pay for damages now you got to figure out everything i just said a moment ago but that’s the way that quote unquote the law works is if there’s been notification And there’s been ample time to get out and fix said pothole, i.e. 24, 48 hours, whatever that amount of time is. I don’t know exactly what that amounts to, by the way. But if there’s been ample time to fix said pothole after them being notified and it still hasn’t fixed and you actually run into it. And or maybe it gets bigger over time because it’s not being fixed. Yes, you actually have a case against said city, state, whatever the case, depending upon where that pothole is actually at. That’s the other thing, by the way, that can get really tricky sometimes is depending upon the road, who is actually responsible for the maintenance. There’s a lot of city streets that actually are but aren’t maintained by that city. They’re maintained by the state because it’s actually a highway. So those are things you have to determine and kind of know where the pothole is, notify what agency is actually in charge, what department is actually in charge of fixing that particular portion of the road, and, and, and. But I learned that today. Typically in the past, I’ve never known anybody to get – But after reading this, there is a way to actually do that, and that’s how you actually make that happen. Golden Eagle Financial is next. Al Smith did an interview here of late. Listen in. We’ll be back right after that. In the meantime, give Al a call. Find him at klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 15 :
TJ here with KLZ and Al Smith of Golden Eagle Financial. And Al, I have a question for you. I’ve been putting money away for a while in a savings account or maybe a couple of investment accounts. But what am I doing wrong and what can you do better than that?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, I think a savings account is important because all the financial gurus, including myself, agree you should have three to six months savings that you have ready liquid access to. But retirement planning is a bit more long term and it’s a bit more strategic. We want to take a look at the sum of money you’ll need way into the future. And we want to look at how that money can last by providing you income for as long as you live.
SPEAKER 15 :
What kind of planning or strategy do you provide for folks with that that have a big savings but haven’t made that next step?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, that’s a good question. If someone has a large amount in savings, one of the things I do is we have a conversation about their risk tolerance. Nobody’s comfortable losing money, but having money in the market over a long period of time is a mechanism to accumulate wealth. And so we talk about the different levels of risk and the different products that are available. And we don’t put everybody into one box, but I have an enormous assortment of financial products. And it’s not that there’s good ones or bad ones. It’s there are some that are more appropriate for some people, but not for others.
SPEAKER 15 :
And that sounds excellent. How can folks get in touch with you for that meeting?
SPEAKER 14 :
You can reach me at 303-744-1128. And if I’m not there, it goes to voicemail, but I return my voicemails promptly. And we could have a conversation in the office. If you live a considerable distance away, we can have a long phone conversation or a Zoom call, whichever you would prefer.
SPEAKER 15 :
And as always, you can find him at klzradio.com slash money. Al, thanks so much for joining us today.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, thank you, TJ. Thanks for the conversation.
SPEAKER 15 :
You bet.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. And for those of you listening, we should get an update here from Richard here in a moment. We’ve got a couple of car reviews that we’re going to do. And for all of you that like getting those reviews and so on, keep in mind we’ve got those. They’ve been posted back for, gosh, we’ve been doing reviews now since 2008. Now, some of those old reviews are probably buried away someplace, but I’m not sure how many people are worried about a 2008 vehicle at this point in time, but some of you might be. Now, one thing I’ll always stress, and I do this all the time, did this even over the weekend for some folks, if you’re looking to buy a car or you’re interested in a particular car or you’re wondering about a particular car, then you’re always welcome to just send me a text message. And you can always do that. Just go 307-200-8222, 307-200-8222, and I’ll help you with some of that. And somebody asked me the other day, well, how do we do that? Do we charge and so on? No, I do not charge to help you buy a car, if that’s something you’re interested in. All right, Richard, give us the update from the weekend of sports.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hmm, that’s an interesting one, Dad. It was… A lot going on.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, so let’s start with college, the Buffs. I didn’t stay up and watch the game. I hate those late games, by the way. I don’t know. I mean, I know why they do that is so more people theoretically can watch them. But an 8.30 start game for CU and Boulder is, in my opinion, far too late. And I won’t stay up and watch it. It’s too late for me.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, unfortunately, and I’m with you, it’s not even the more people watch. It’s basically TV inventory, right? And the Buffs, even with them… I mean, not as great as they were obviously last year. It’s competitive. It’s exciting. Those sorts of things. They’re still a decent draw. I mean, they’re still getting nationally televised games. That window is a funky window. There’s not necessarily a lot of teams. And it’s kind of like when the Nuggets and the Avalanes start at like 830. and they are a bummer because they you know the games don’t get over till again 11 o’clock at night same thing because everyone seems to think that we are on the west coast when we’re not we’re in the mountain time zone and it’s not you know like we’re starting a game at midnight for sure but it is it is still much later than than expected but yeah that you know the late games to that you know tv national tv those sorts of things however it is Man, Dad, that team up there right now is rough to watch. I mean, I did stay up and watch it. And all I’ll say is as much as I like Coach Prime as the coach and the CEO of the organization, and I think that he’s actually really brought in a lot of talented coaches and recruiters and things like that, and I think they have a lot of guys, they seem to be lacking this year. And even Deion seems to be – showing lacking as a coach and he’s never been known to be an exit in those coaches right dad he was the guy that was supposed to you know just bring in the recruits all get the coaches that can coach them up you know all find these you know get these you know really good players those sorts of things and and he’s done that several times right you know he did that with Travis Hunter a few years ago and obviously that we had him for two years at CU and he did it obviously obviously Shadur wasn’t going to go anywhere else and he’s brought some good kids in I mean again Jordan Seaton’s are left tackle, he’s probably a bona fide first-round pick. I mean, he still has some growth to do, but he’s really talented. We have some defensive linemen that are really talented, even some receivers that are talented, but it just seems like, honestly, the most important position, I think the two of the most important positions on the field are one that’s on the field and one that’s off the field, and that is the quarterback, obviously, and that is the offensive coordinator with Pat Shermer, and he was the offensive coordinator for the Broncos for a few years. I don’t know if that was at Fangio or or maybe even before Vance Joseph, I can just say this. I think Schirmer’s a nice enough guy. He just struggles when it comes to creativity. And in today’s world, you need creativity to succeed. And you have an offense that actually ran the ball really well. which they didn’t do last year. But you’re lacking some of those creative thoughts that I think you can succeed at with the playmakers that you have. And then on top of that, Dad, you kind of put the piece, which is, I struggle with them. Well, I struggle with their choice of quarterback. Salter, he was brought in from Liberty. Played really well there, was proficient, but you’re stepping up to big boy football, right? And that is the Big 12, and it’s the Power 4 now. And he just hasn’t – to me, there’s guys in the NFL, right? And we’re not talking NFL, but there’s guys in the NFL. They are your quintessential backup quarterbacks, right? They’re steady players. They’re not going to make a lot of mistakes, but they’re also not going to wow you with their play. They’re just going to be kind of there. That guy for us for all those years, Bobby Brister. He was that guy in the NFL for the Broncos and for a lot of teams. He could come in. He could steady your team. He did this, I think, one of the Super Bowl years. Elway was hurt for a few games. And he just basically made sure he didn’t drive the team off a cliff. And that’s kind of what Salter is to me. He’s the kind of guy… that can come in, be that steadying force, not really screw up a game, but then he tries to win the game for you. When he does try to win a game, it causes problems. For example, I think it was in the fourth quarter or early fourth quarter or late third, but they had a third and three. Well, he takes a 22-yard sack because he was trying to make a play. And my issue with that is you just can’t do that. The door sort of became synonymous with really making plays last year and running out of sacks. But you’re seeing this year with the NFL. He can’t do that. You know, several preseason games, he took really, really bad sacks because he was trying to make a play, and it just wasn’t right for him.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and for everybody listening knows this, but in case you don’t, and Richard, you know what I mean by this, the speed. I mean, they always talk about how, you know, the best college team could play the worst NFL team, and it’s likely that that college team could, you know, could give a really good run against that pro team. And I always laugh at that because, no, they can’t. The reality, Richard, as you know, as you step up to the pros, everything is at a higher level. The speed, the intensity, the hits, the knowledge, the anticipation. There’s nothing that’s even close to what it is in college, Richard.
SPEAKER 05 :
And like you said, it’s proportional, right? The step up from even freshmen on high school teams to a varsity, right? It’s faster, right? Guys are bigger, faster, make decisions. You then go to Division III or NAIA for college, or Division II even, or even the FCS, right, where the North Dakota states and some of those schools are at. And then you get to your college, Division I, but then again you get to these lower-level programs where they just don’t play as many of the big teams.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, you get the SEC, it changes completely.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, exactly. You get to the SEC Big Ten, and even those guys sometimes are faster than the Big 12 guys are. That’s right.
SPEAKER 08 :
And you take another step up when you go to the pros, and even one of the worst, you take, for example, the Browns. I’m trying not to pick on them, but you go to the Browns, and the reality, Richard, is even that level is way above where the best guys in the SEC are at.
SPEAKER 05 :
you are 1,000% correct. And that’s where I think, again, back to CU, where I think Salter’s struggle is he’s realizing that this game is fast. And, again, in that situation, third and three, maybe you’re not going to go for it, but you can’t take that sack, right? You’ve got to give your defense a chance to come in. Either you punt the ball away or do whatever it might be. And so, to me, Dad, there’s a lot of things at play with CU. Again, I still like Dion. I still think he’s the right coach for it. I just think they need to make some changes. And I know he really likes Pat Shermer. I would get rid of Pat Shermer. I would bring in someone else that’s a little bit more creative, and I would maybe give the Salter guy one more game, and then I would probably bring in the young freshman that they have, and you see what he’s got. And if he’s a player like they think he is, then he’ll prove you right, and he’ll really do well, and then you can play around him. If he’s not, then you can move on. It’s kind of like what you do in the pros. You figure out if you’ve got a guy, and if you do, then great, you can build around him.
SPEAKER 08 :
If not, you do what you can to make that work.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, yeah, and then you move on, right? You know, okay, we know this quarterback’s not it, so we’re going to go get someone else, right? We’re going to go sign someone else, do something else. And so that’s where I feel like they’re kind of between these two. You’re just stuck in the mud here, right? They’re just kind of threading their tires or they’re spinning their tires, and I don’t think they’re making progress. You know, Dion, after the game, was talking about how he – some of the guys didn’t raise up to some of the moments. It’s like, well – No offense, Dion, and this is one of my criticisms, Dad, right? When he came in, he talked about how he was bringing his Louie. Well, you’ve got to keep bringing them. You can’t just bring them for those couple years that your sons and Travis Hunter were there. You’ve got to keep bringing those kids in to play. And I actually think they have good enough athletes. I just think at those two key positions, offensive coordinator and quarterback, they are really lacking. And I think Deion, honestly, to me, he’s a little bit too loyal of a guy. And that’s where he’s sort of… In other words, he sticks with a guy too long. Yeah, and maybe he shouldn’t. Honestly, his first year, he actually had a guy who’s actually the head coach of San Diego State now. I forgot his last name, but Sean Lewis. That’s what it is, Sean Lewis. And I actually thought he was really creative and he really did a good job, but he didn’t mesh well with Shador, right? He wanted sort of the on-time, you know, you’re going to throw a quick play here, you’re going to do this, and Shador is more of a kind of free sort of learning in the NFL. You can’t necessarily do that. So that’s one of the things, honestly, to me that I feel like they’ve struggled with a little bit is they’ve lacked in their creativity. And again, Shermer’s been around the NFL game. I think he knows a lot about football. He probably knows more than all, or he’s probably forgotten more than I will ever begin to know about the game. But I just think that at some point in time, it does pass you by a little bit, especially if you’re not willing to adapt and change.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right. Last question before we go into car reviews is watch the game last night. Don’t always watch Sunday football, but last night was a pretty decent game back and forth between the Cowboys and the Packers and ended up in a tie, which you rarely ever see.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, it’s not very common. I think it’s about one, one game out of the 200 or however many games there are per season. Yeah. One, it’s, It doesn’t happen very often, maybe one time a year. And to me, you and I were talking about this earlier, they’ve got to figure out a solution. Yeah, and we’ve talked about this. They’ve updated the overtime rules over the course of time. They’ve changed them to where each team gets a possession, or basically a possession, unless the first team scores a touchdown. those sorts of things, and it just feels so weird, right? It feels like if it ends in a tie, Dad, then they should do something, you know, a kickoff. Something. You know, taking turns on field, you know, throw a ball at the goal post. I don’t know. You know, do something that it will just decide a winner, because to me, in the years of our Lord, 2025, that we’re still deciding, and I’ll say this, Dad, you know, in soccer and other sports around the world, if they want to accept ties, sure, go for it.
SPEAKER 08 :
I don’t think we should have it in the NFL. That’s my feeling.
SPEAKER 05 :
I’m just saying that we have prided ourselves here in America on being different, and everyone makes fun of us for it. You know what? About time we at least embrace it, and let’s get rid of this. No ties.
SPEAKER 08 :
I agree. I don’t know why they don’t go back to some of the rules they once had. And, again, there’s ways to do it where you could even take last night, okay, you guys played this short quarter. You both got a field goal. Okay, great. Here’s how this is going to work. Moving forward, we’re going to give you each a chance at the 45-yard line to make a field goal. And guess what? The first guy that misses, that team loses.
SPEAKER 05 :
I don’t know if you’re necessarily crazy. So we’ll see. I doubt it’s going to happen, but you know stranger things have happened. I mean, again, I’m with you.
SPEAKER 08 :
This whole tie thing is just a joke if you ask me.
SPEAKER 05 :
I’m with you 100%. And to me, that’s where I would, if I was commissioner of the NFL, that would probably be one of the first things I’d change because, and again, I know it doesn’t happen very often, but it just, again, my oldest came up to me this morning. He’s like, Jess, they had a tie. Are you sure? I said, no, buddy, that just kind of happens sometimes. He goes, well, that doesn’t make sense. And I said, you know what, from the mouths of a third grader, you’re right, it doesn’t make sense. We need to change this.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, one last question. Text it in. What about the Broncos tonight? What are your thoughts there?
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, Dad, tonight they’re playing against a beat-up Bengals team. Joe Burrow’s not playing. A few other injuries for them. Get out with a win. I know some people are going to say, well, they need to really kill the – I don’t care. Obviously, yes, I would love the offense to show that they’ve got it. I would love the offense to show that they can put up 30 points on this team because I don’t think the Bengals’ defense is very good. And I would love for the defense to shut them down. But at the end of the day – Get a win. Get on the right track. You’ve got another tough game against Philly next week, and you’ve kind of got an easier part of your schedule coming up. So to me, find a way to win this game. As long as it doesn’t come down to a last-second field goal, in my opinion, I can live with whatever happens, as long as it’s a win.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, and I agree. And I think the predictions are that they should do fairly well. This texture said if Peyton loses this one, he might be looking for a job. And frankly, I’m not sure I can disagree with that.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, as much as I would love, because I think that Peyton is a little bit overrated in some aspects, he needs to get back to the basics of run the football, Play great defense, let your quarterback do a few certain things that he does well, and then move on. Stop trying to prove that you’re the smartest guy in the room.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s all. I can’t disagree with you at all on that one as well. All right, let’s talk about cars. We’ve got time for our car reviews. Let me do this. Let me make sure I set this up correctly so we can replay this again on Saturday. All right, that time of the week where we do our car reviews. Richard, what have you driven lately?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, Dad, so I drove a couple of fun cars recently. Most, I guess, a little bit different car on the luxury side of things is a 2026 Genesis GV70, which you’ve actually had some listeners call about this car recently. And it’s their smaller, sleeker, I guess it’s the compact SUV, right? And so as far as what it is, it’s a luxury compact SUV. It’s got some subtle changes, a redesigned grille, some larger skids. Skid plate, some different exhaust tips, those sorts of things. Outside of that, Dad, this is a car that’s kind of – it’s gotten really good reviews in years past. It’s got the biggest change, Dad, is a brand-new 27-inch OLED display all across the interior of this car, which is phenomenal and fantastic. It ran phenomenally. And I will say this, the interior of this car, Dad, as with Genesis, and you and I have talked about this on other cars of theirs – It’s just beautiful. They’ve just done a really good job at putting these vehicles together. It feels nice. I actually went to a Bronco game with it because it was funny. It actually had blue seats and orange seat belts. So here in Denver, it was like the perfectly themed Broncos car, to be honest with you, that I didn’t have to – you wouldn’t have to change anything. So if you were looking for a Broncos-styled car, you could actually go out and find this. So it’s got a base 300-horsepower turbocharged inline-four, or it’s got an upgraded, which is the one that we drove – twin-turbo V6 that puts out about 375 horsepower, and I will say, Dad, this car runs really, really well, even at our altitude. The price of the vehicle, as we said, I don’t have the sticker in front of me, but I believe it was about $72,000 is where it sat, and some of your listeners are going to say, well, wow, Richard, for a Compact SUVs. Competitors in the similarly equipped vehicles, size, everything else, are going to be about $10,000 more, right? And so this is actually a really good value for this compact luxury market. And again, you’ve driven this vehicle. I know you actually spoke about it recently. It’s one of our more favorite compact luxury SUVs.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah. In fact, as I told a listener that called in, oh, I know it was a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday where we actually had a listener asking about that particular car. Is that a car that I would own and so on and so forth? And the answer was absolutely. If you look at the value that that car brings and what it competes against at the end of the day, would I own it? I absolutely would own that car.
SPEAKER 05 :
It was great, Dad. It was introduced back in 2022. It’s got some, again, beautiful luxury enhancements as far as interior lighting and just certain safety features that way.
SPEAKER 08 :
And really quick, Richard, it’s a good-looking car to boot.
SPEAKER 05 :
I was going to say that, that it’s got that kind of that aggressive sloped roof line. Looks really beautiful. If you’ve seen this car on the road, you know exactly what we’re talking about.
SPEAKER 08 :
That pillar slopes back. The glass is sloped. It’s got nice body lines down the side. They’ve done a really nice job on the way this car looks.
SPEAKER 05 :
No, they have absolutely, Dad. And one nice thing, again, I did mention the top of the line because, folks, a lot of times we do get the top of the line of these because they want to show us every single thing that’s available. Dad, you can get, again, the base model of this with that four-cylinder engine that I was telling you about that’s still turbocharged for just over $51,000. So you may not want to go for the… you know very cream of the crop which is totally fine this has got a really nice broad uh swath of choices and options for you depending on what you want to choose on it i mean again you can get a panoramic sunroof heated and ventilated seats 360 degree parking system all of the different things that But overall, I would just tell your listeners, like you mentioned earlier, get out and test drive this vehicle. See if you like it. See the different engine options, the different trim levels, whatever it might be, because what we like, you may not like and vice versa. And when you do that, again, local Genesis dealer, when you do that, let them know that John and Richard Rush from Drive Radio and Rush to Reason sent you.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, second vehicle you drove, which this is one where I get lots of listeners that comment on this particular vehicle. This is a very popular vehicle in our neck of the woods, in all of our listening audience, and that is the Toyota 4Runner. So which year, which model of that did you drive?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, Dad, so we’ve been looking forward to this car and waiting for this for a little bit, which is the 2025 4Runner. This was the Limited, which gives you the third row on this vehicle. And some of your listeners are going to say, well, why the 2025? Well, this is, especially if you’re listening to this now or in the future, This is when they redesigned it, right? So we’ve been waiting for the redesigned 4Runner, Dad, for years now. They finally delivered it. All of them now come with a turbocharged four-cylinder engine. You’ve got updated interior. And I’ll just say this. If you’re wanting to know what the interior looks like, number one, go out and see it yourself. Number two, Toyota’s really synonymous, Dad, with kind of keeping what works in a lot of their other vehicles, especially their SUVs, and kind of transferring it. So it’s got the big old display in the front, similar-styled knobs. And it works well, Dad, because if you’ve gotten into one and then you hop into another, you know where everything’s at. You’re not constantly searching for this button or that button or whatever it might be. Their infotainment system works really, really well, which is fantastic. Let me see what else here. Oh, so again, I did mention this does have a third row. I will say this, Dad, that third row isn’t going to do much other than being able to say it’s a third row. Even for my kiddos, getting into that third row is hard-pressed, and especially when you put it up, you do not have a lot of room behind that third row for cargo. However, if you maybe just need that extra seat, Dad, right, you need that extra little bit of room, and you can keep one side down, you can put the other side up, definitely would be something that I consider because the Limited, I believe, is one of the trim levels that does have it. Price point, Dad. The SR5 is kind of a low level, about $43,000. And we drove, again, we drove the Limited, and I actually do have the window sticker on this car, Dad, as it sits 62740. But again, that’s on the higher end, Dad. It’s got all of the bells and whistles that you want on it, all of the different things that you would like. People are going to ask, well, how does this run, Richard? Well, that turbocharged engine, Dad, which is a very similar engine that they’ve been putting in a lot of their other vehicles, their SUVs and trucks, runs really well at our altitude. However, I will say this. You’re not going to gather a whole lot more fuel economy as a result of it, Dad. But at the same time, I don’t know if you’re buying a – well, I’ll just say this. If you’re buying a 4Runner for your fuel economy, I’m not sure you’re buying it for great purposes. Mm-hmm. Outside of that, Dad, it still is, and you’ve done this because you’ve driven these forever, done work on them, all sorts of things.
SPEAKER 08 :
ready off-road equipped vehicle straight from the lot that you can buy out there right and yeah pretty much i mean the only competition for this of course is you know bronco or or a wrangler of course but they’re both different vehicles the forerunner again has its own i’ll say it colt following whereby there’s people that will only buy a forerunner and i’ll also say this a lot of them probably never see a gravel road you know you know at the end of the day, but it really doesn’t matter. If that’s the vehicle they like, that’s what they’re buying, and that is a very popular vehicle, meaning the resale value on it has been, will be high, just like they always have been.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. And again, this is a car, Dad, that you can take, especially here in Colorado, go up and out, go up to the mountains, do whatever you want to. And again, with that updated engine, you have the ability to pretty much go wherever you want to go, Dad. And like you say, it does hold its value. It is a Toyota. They’re still tried and true. They’ve done that forever. It’s got a lot of the off-road features that maybe you would add that kind of come standard on them, especially depending on the trim level you get, right? You can kind of get as much or as little of those as you want. And then the last thing I’ll say is this. you get a lot of that off-road functionality, Dad, without having to give up some on-road comfort with some of those other competitors you mentioned. That’s right. You kind of do, right? You have to give up a little bit in the way of creature comforts in order to get some of those off-road pieces. So outside of that, folks… I know a lot of you have been wanting to learn more about this. There’s only so much we can cover in these reviews. Check it out yourself. Head to your local dealers. I know they’re starting to get to dealers lots more and more. And then also call, ask questions, email us. But when you do go to the dealer, let them know that John and Richard Rush from Drive Radio and Rush Trees have sent you.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, Richard, that’s it for today. Appreciate you very much. And up next, Roof Savers of Colorado. Whatever you need when it comes to your roof, the rejuvenation of, talk to Dave, 303-710-6916.
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SPEAKER 08 :
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SPEAKER 06 :
We don’t yell at you, we inform you. Now, back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, that’s going to wrap things up for today. And again, if you have any questions at all in buying a car, new or used, by all means, reach out. You can send me a text message, and I’ll help you with that. I just had somebody text me a moment ago along those same lines. Always here, willing to help you guys. Again, 307-282-22. All right, tomorrow, Andy’s going to be with me. We’re going to find out exactly how the GOP State Committee meeting, the leadership, went over the weekend. We’ll get an update from Andy on that. Have a great night. Be safe. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 1 :
I’m a rich guy
