John Rush is joined by Raj Tolshan from Loan Mantra to discuss the vital role small businesses play in the economy, especially in challenging times. They explore the current landscape for small business owners, addressing both the struggles and opportunities presented by high interest rates. The conversation emphasizes the importance of streamlined access to capital and the innovative solutions from Loan Mantra that help businesses connect with lenders in today’s market.
SPEAKER 06 :
This is Rush to Reason. 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. With your host, John Rush.
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Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind? It’s Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush. Presented by High Five Plumbing, Heating, Cooling, and Electric, where every call ends with a high five.
SPEAKER 18 :
All right, we are back. Hour number three, Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. It is time for our Monday Mortgage Minute, Affordable Interest Mortgage. Kurt Rogers. Kurt, welcome. How are you today? I am doing just fine, John. How about you? I am very well. Talk to us about first-time homebuyers.
SPEAKER 17 :
Right now, there seems to be a surge of those buying homes. And I think some of the reasons are that there’s some pretty good pricing out there for you. And there’s some, you know, even with rates where they are, there’s some first-time homebuyer programs that will allow them to get into a home and have payments lower for the, you know, $500, $600, $700 a month for the first year or two.
SPEAKER 18 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 17 :
So we’re seeing a lot more activity in that. 35% of all homes sold in December were the first-time homebuyers, which is a high number.
SPEAKER 18 :
Are there still incentives, i.e., you know, first-time down payment assistance, things along those lines? And if so, how does that work?
SPEAKER 17 :
There’s actually quite a few of those down payment assistance programs. Some of them you put as little as $1,000 or $2,000 down. Others you put maybe 3% down. But they have special rates. and they have either a waiver of or very low mortgage insurance because you’re not putting the normal 20%. And rents are still up there.
SPEAKER 18 :
Okay. So in other words, now is the time. If you’ve been waiting and you’re thinking, hey, I’m going to wait for things to change, like we’ve talked about before, just you and I, the problem is the longer you wait, you could run the risk of then we come back into a situation If you would, a seller’s market. Right now it’s a buyer’s market, and if it turns to a seller’s market, what you thought you were going to save, you may not be.
SPEAKER 17 :
And that’s a key thing I think they’re starting to understand, because if the rates come down any more, there’s going to be more people wanting to buy the inventory, and then the prices are going to go up, and it’s going to make it tougher.
SPEAKER 18 :
So at the end of the day, you may not really be saving when it’s all said and done by waiting. And again, you and I have talked about this before, too. If you’re thinking that, well, I’m just going to wait until rates come down. Well, you know what? If you can get the right home right now and get in and get going, the reality is if they do come down, okay, fine, redo it.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, especially with the programs out there, you can do that pretty inexpensively.
SPEAKER 18 :
And what’s the rules along those lines?
SPEAKER 17 :
You have to keep the loan that you initially started with for seven months. After that, you can refinance it.
SPEAKER 18 :
So right now, if you’re thinking rates may not be down until the latter part of the year anyways, okay, well, there you go. There’s your answer, right?
SPEAKER 17 :
So you get the better rate now.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 17 :
The better price.
SPEAKER 18 :
Get the better home now is what I’m getting at.
SPEAKER 1 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 18 :
Absolutely. All right. Haystack Help Radio, you take that over on Tuesdays from noon to 1. What’s up tomorrow?
SPEAKER 17 :
We’re going to have your friend and mine, Dave Hart, on there. He’s going to be talking about how to save money on your roof.
SPEAKER 18 :
Awesome. As always, Kurt, appreciate you very much. Thanks, John. All right, man, have a great night. And again, Kurt Rogers, Affordable Interest Mortgage, 720-895-0500.
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SPEAKER 18 :
This is Rush to Reason on KLZ 560. All right, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Raj Tolshan joining us now from Lone Mantra. Raj, welcome. How are you?
SPEAKER 05 :
Good. Thanks, John. Thank you for having me on your show.
SPEAKER 18 :
I appreciate it. And as a small business owner myself, I think one of the things that most of us talking about me are looking at is, OK, with Trump, new administration, all of that, what kind of impact is he going to have on small business when it’s all said and done?
SPEAKER 05 :
So, John, look, we are very excited. I mean, truly speaking, right now, last week was inauguration, and as you know, inauguration is a time of celebration. That’s right. And look, the first 100 days is essentially going to be very essential for any presidential administration, especially given that there’s a lot of noise in the media, there’s internal adjustments, as you know, a lot of confirmations are coming through. So having said that, We’ll see how the new administration fulfills its promises made on the campaign trail and how this is going to impact small businesses going forward. I know there’s the whole belief that the federal government is going to come in and is looking to grow and expand in the United States. It could mean good things, especially in the manufacturing sector. Look, it’s been sluggish for decades. I mean, the priorities are ripe for a national business expansion. I agree. So it’ll be interesting to see how this whole thing pays out.
SPEAKER 18 :
You’re right, Raj, and I can’t disagree with anything you just said. I think, personally speaking, this is one of the things that I think the The Fed, by the way, gets wrong. The guys that are in charge there, Jerome Powell himself, is they forget that when it comes to small and medium-sized businesses, the higher they keep the rates, in other words, the borrowing costs of those particular businesses and those sectors, what the Fed doesn’t realize is We, as owners, we always pass costs along, Raj, no matter what anybody says or thinks. We have to pass those costs along. And if our borrowing costs, lines of credit, and so on are higher, then those costs get passed on, therefore, by the way, driving up inflation versus the opposite. And I at times wonder, does the Fed understand that, Raj?
SPEAKER 1 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 05 :
Look, I can’t speak for the Fed, right? I always say that no matter who’s there, right, they’re far superior to me.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, maybe not. I might argue with you on that one. And the only reason I say that, Raj, is I did a deep dive the other day, and all the guys that are sitting on the Fed board right now, and the reality is there’s a couple of them that have been in the private sector as far as, you know, VCs and big banks and things like that. But I hate to say this, not a one of them has ever written a paycheck.
SPEAKER 05 :
Wow. Okay. Well, look, in true honesty, I think you’re 100% right, right? As rates go down, capital will become cheaper and easier to access. Correct. So we believe that interest rates will continue to go down in 2025. I mean, we’ve lived through one of the highest… rate cycle in decades.
SPEAKER 18 :
And really quick, Raj, to the point where, and I think you guys watch and track this, I mean, to the point where it does slow down the money flow, the lending, if you would. And part of that, and I don’t want to get into all the details, but when banks are hanging on to even bonds that are at a lower rate where they can’t get those off their books, they can’t free that money up to loan to folks like myself and others that are that are small business, medium-sized business owners, Raj, at the end of the day, that affects how much money is in the marketplace, does it not?
SPEAKER 05 :
No, absolutely. And that’s the reason we… Look, in all honesty, I genuinely believe that this year we’ll see some serious interest rate cuts. Last year, we got our one point shaved. And I believe that this year we’ll see about, if not, I believe there’ll be four cuts, 25 basis points each, and maybe another 25 do appease great expectations. So I… Personally speaking, if rates come down even close to where we were in May of 2019 or so, I think it will be good for small businesses. And look, anytime, it’s in the business. You’re a small business owner. I am a small business owner. It’s in our DNA, right? We have extra cash in the business. We are going to invest that in the business. We’re going to invest in technology. We’re going to buy machinery. And overall, it’s going to help the economy. So I can’t see a reason to keep the rates where they are.
SPEAKER 18 :
You and I are, I mean, we think very much alike. One thing, too, that I’m anxious to see what the Trump administration does is the beneficial ownership registration nonsense that was kind of going on and off, on and off, all through the end of the year. At this point, it’s still off, and I really hope this administration just takes it off the table altogether. Your thoughts?
SPEAKER 05 :
Look, in full disclosure, right, so you’re talking about FinCEN, right, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which is essentially a government agency, and they’ve been tasked to monitor to prevent financial crimes such as money laundering and terrorism finance. So look, I built Lone Mantra based on the values that financial, on everything about financial security and data privacy. However, in full disclosure, I registered my company on the FinCEN website. And honestly speaking, John, it was super easy. It is. My take on it was, look, help wherever you can. There are certain fights you fight. Truly speaking, if we are worried about our personal information, I guarantee you, Amazon has more information on my business than, for instance.
SPEAKER 18 :
I think for a lot of us, it’s more, me included, Raj, it’s more of a principal thing than it is anything. I get it. It’s a 10-minute deal. It doesn’t take a long time to register. My point, though, is for the majority – how should I say this? For the majority of honest business owners, they’ve registered with their secretary of state, running them down, figuring out who actually is owner of that company is not a big deal. And the reality, Raj, is this is trying to go after the folks that launder money and do things that, by the way, I’m not even sure how all that works because my mind doesn’t think like a thief, so I don’t think that way. So my point, though, at the end of the day is if there’s a way to get around stuff, no offense, Raj, it’s not you and I that they need to go after anyways. Those are the guys that are going to figure out a way around it anyways.
SPEAKER 05 :
I hope not. Look, we do a lot of paperwork, and I hope this paperwork, this should be it. I think they did their share, we do our share, and hopefully money laundering and terrorism financing is a huge deal in any country in the world. So I’m hoping and praying that this would be the last of it.
SPEAKER 18 :
I hope you’re good. Okay, really quick, talk to us a little bit about Loan Mantra. What do you guys do? What’s your target customer? What can you do to help some of those business owners that are out there listening right now?
SPEAKER 05 :
No, absolutely. Look, Loan Mantra is a financial technology company. I started the company back in 2013. We help small business connect to capital. I mean, people, look, as a small business owner, we just talked about, hey, access to capital being one of the toughest things. We help. What somebody can do is they can go on loanmantra.com. There’s a resource page. There’s a lot of information that will give, you know, tell them, no, Jesus. tell small business owners which way to go, and then they can complete an application. Most of the times, business owners cannot connect with the lending institution because they do not speak the same language. What we have done is we have basically made that process simple. We’ve built and used technology, AI, to complete the whole application. And make it simpler to go to a lending institution and be like, this is what I do. This is what my business says. Give me a loan that I deserve.
SPEAKER 18 :
You know what? And I coach other businesses, Raj, and I will tell you everything you just said. And those listening that are business owners know exactly what you just said. I cannot disagree with anything that you’re saying. It is one of the biggest challenges for a lot of small business owners is not only finding who out there that would even be somebody to talk to when it comes to capital, but then filling out all of the, you know, I hate to call it red tape, but all the forms, all the things necessary to make that happen, Raj, that can become, depending upon who you are and your financial wherewithal, that can be very burdensome. You guys basically are taking that out of the loop.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, we basically, honestly simplified the equation. I’ll give you a great example. We just put in some AI tools in there. Worst day to talk about AI, by the way, given everything that’s going in the market. But we literally, we added an AI tool with an individual, a business owner. Business owners are phenomenal at what they do. Sometimes getting that thought across is one of the toughest things they do. So what we did was we created, hey, go and put in a couple of lines of work and let AI rewrite that sentence for you. Then, you know what? Certain times I do not know when my documents will be ready. I don’t have the time to get my documents done right now. Guess what? That’s where we have come and helped. We have said, hey, you know what, John? Go complete the application at your time. Put your kids to bed. Do all your work, everything, and then go put the application on Loan Mantra. And as you’re completing the application, the system guides you through it. At the end of the day, it gives you a template of documents. It’s all the questions that you’ve completed. It completes a credit memo for you. And it essentially creates a conversation between the small business owner and the small business lending institution because the communication is the toughest thing. And we’ve tried to make the entire process easier.
SPEAKER 18 :
Very good. I appreciate that. I will send customers your way, of course, because with what I do, I’ve got folks that are needing that on a routine basis, Raj. So I will definitely send folks your way. And those of you listening, it’s loanmantra.com. Raj, I’m excited also for this year. I’m hopeful that things will change and really help small business owners. I believe, well, I know, we are the lifeblood of America, and all the help you can give small business does nothing more than help the economy.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, God, absolutely. You’re 100% right. Look, you’re in Colorado, right? Yes. 99.5% of the businesses are small and medium-sized businesses in Colorado. I mean, overall, our economy, both nationally and locally, are made of incredibly resilient entrepreneurs. I deal with entrepreneurs. I can tell you some of the phenomenal stories. The guy who started with one small gas station working at a gas station and today owns multiple, or somebody who worked at a hotel, a bodega, and has been very successful. Mm-hmm. So I have 100% faith in small business owners, right? Small business owners know how to operate when inflation is high or even in a global pandemic. We know how to thrive. Look, at the end of it, I can speak for myself. We know that small business owners roll with the punches.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yep, you’re right. Raj, I appreciate you very much. You’re welcome anytime. Just let me know and we’ll have you back on. Thank you, John. You’re very welcome, Raj. Appreciate it again. Again, loan mantra for some of you listening. Small business owners, you’ve been looking for capital and things along those lines. They’re not paid. They didn’t pay me to say any of this. I just had a press release come across and thought he’d be a great person to interview given what happened a week ago with Donald Trump now being our president. So if you’re out there looking for some of the things that Raj just talked about, go to loanmantra.com. And we’ll be right back. Golden Eagle Financial. Speaking of finances, a lot of you, owners included, you need to plan for the future. How are you going to make it when it comes to retirement? And by the way, retirement, if you might just be waking up and doing what you want to do each day, not what somebody else wants you to do, but how do you get there? That’s where Al Smith comes into play. 303-744-1128.
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SPEAKER 18 :
All right. As Kurt Rogers and I were talking a little bit ago, he’s going to have Dave Hart, Roof Savers of Colorado, on with him tomorrow during Haystack Help Radio. And Dave is your roofing expert. If you want to extend the life of your roof, get your current roof either repaired or replaced, and that includes commercial, he can do it all. 303-710-6916.
SPEAKER 10 :
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SPEAKER 03 :
Back to Rush to Reason, presented by High Five Plumbing, Heating, Cooling, and Electric, where every call ends with a high five.
SPEAKER 18 :
All right, no guests for the rest of this show, so if you’ve got something on your mind you want to chat about, please give me a call, 303-477-5600, 303-477-5600, and we’d be happy to take your call, have a chat, which, by the way, could have been with anything we’ve talked about throughout the day. There is a bill that… Great intentions. Problem is with the environment we have down at our state capitol, I’m not sure this one’s going to go anywhere. I get it. It raises awareness, and I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be running this bill, but they’re going to run a bill to repeal the cage-free egg law in Colorado. It’s going to committee today, or went to committee today, I should say. This is from Barbara Kirkmeyer and Ryan Gonzalez. And again, I’m not against this. I’m not sure with the current climate – make sure I use the right words here – that we have down in our state capitol, this is going to go very far because we’ve got a bunch of knuckleheads down there on the Democrat side that frankly have no idea how our local state and our economy and things like that actually work. Keep in mind in our current law, all eggs sold in Colorado – must come from a cage-free facility. And all egg producers in Colorado housing more than 3,000 egg-laying hens will need to comply with the cage-free requirements. One of the requirements is to give each chicken 144 square inches. Now, I learned a lot about… chickens and the processing of and the egg laying and all of that from several good friends of mine, some of them in the farming world or the ranching world, I guess you could say. And reality is, even in facilities whereby they leave the doors open so the chickens have freedom to roam inside the building and even have a door to go outside, reality is most don’t. The chickens don’t. If they’re being fed and they’re warm and all of their quote-unquote friends are inside, they typically don’t leave anyways. Now, I’m not saying that we should be cruel to any kind of animals, and I’m all for making sure that we’re not, and that’s on any level, by the way, no matter what we’re eating as far as food goes. But I also know that in a lot of cases— Especially hens that lay eggs, they don’t go a long way anyways. Even some of you that have chickens that you raise at home and you have your own eggs, which a lot of people do nowadays, which is an option. By the way, if you want cheaper eggs, then raise your own chickens and get your eggs that way. And a lot of people do. But even then, most of them don’t go very far. You know, it’s like any other type of domestic animal. They know where they’re fed. They know where they’re cared for. They’re not dumb. They know all that end of things, and they just don’t go super far anyways. So the bill to repeal the law points out several statistics. The Colorado Egg Producers Association estimates that the cost of producing cage-free eggs is roughly 16% to 18% higher than then the cost of production in a caged environment due to the amount of labor, the cost of reconstructing hen houses and so on, and, by the way, the potential spread of illness in the larger environment. They can actually control things better in a smaller environment than they can the larger environment. The Bureau of Labor Statistics show egg prices increased 39%, so basically 40%, between September of 23 and September of 24. That’s the largest increase of any food tract. Almost 50% higher. Almost. That’s a lot, by the way. And you see all sorts of complaints, I do at least, all over social media about the price of eggs and how costly they are. In fact, there are even restaurants and people that use a lot of eggs that will go to Costco or other places and buy flats of eggs, cases of eggs at a time, trying to stay ahead of this. Since July of 2022, the average national cost of a dozen eggs rose 75% from $1.92 to to 337 in October of 24 with a peak of 482 in January of 23. So as of December 2024, a dozen large white eggs at a grocery store is $5.49. Despite the stat provided by the Colorado Egg Producers Association on the cost of going cage-free, Bill Skibbe, the executive director of the organization that’s against the proposed bill, he wanted to make it clear that high price of eggs is tied to bird flu. That’s not totally true, by the way, because we saw prices going up long before any of this bird flu, you know, quote-unquote scare came along. So, bottom line… This is something that I would be in favor of repealing this bill. But I will tell you that I will be shocked if this thing even makes it out of committee. Joe, go ahead.
SPEAKER 07 :
John, one other thing about the transmission of bird flu. You rarely see it in caged bird. Right. Because bird flu is transmitted by the droppings of wild birds. So when your chickens are out in a caged enclosure and the wild birds sit on top of the wire. and they poop and it falls down, that’s how your captive chickens get infected from the wild birds. So if they’re kept in a barn and no wild birds can fly into your barn, they’re not going to get bird flu.
SPEAKER 18 :
Right, right.
SPEAKER 07 :
Good point. In terms of cruelty to animals, when you do, you know, you wind up killing 100,000 chickens.
SPEAKER 18 :
When you have something like the bird flu come through, right?
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. If you even get, you know, one infected chicken… you wind up killing 100,000 chickens over the next three days. So which is more humane, to have birds a little bit more confined in an enclosed egg-length facility or to wind up killing 100,000 birds over the next three days? Which is more humane?
SPEAKER 18 :
Which in those cases, too, Joe, if I’m not mistaken, nothing can be done with – they’re just destroyed. There’s nothing they can do with those chickens, right?
SPEAKER 07 :
No, they’re not processed.
SPEAKER 18 :
They’re done, right? You can’t process them. You can’t eat them. They’re not going to market. They’re just destroyed, correct?
SPEAKER 07 :
Just absolutely correct, John. And by the way, the egg-laying life of a chicken is about three years. And after three years, it becomes an oven roaster after three years.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah. And again, there’s so much controversy over this, Joe, that you try to take this and just take a rational approach. And I understand there’s a lot of folks out there that love growing their own chickens, having their own eggs and so on. And some people have the ability to do so. And you know what? More power to them. Knock your socks off if that’s what you want to do. Fine. I personally, Joe… do not have time to mess around with, you know, chickens and coops and getting the eggs and dinking around with getting them in and out at night. And yes, I know there’s automated doors and so on, but at the end of the day, Joe, I’m one of those where, you know, until the day comes where I have to do it, and if I did, I would, but I’m not, and I won’t at this point.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. And you and me both, and John, my grandmother, when I used to work in my grandpa’s cattle ranch in the summers, they had chickens, and they had a little little 8×8 block house with a little tiny opening about the size of a dog door, but there was no flap run. It was just open, and that’s where the chickens would go at night to roost. During the day, John, they were free to come and go. Most of the time, they were inside the little— They didn’t.
SPEAKER 18 :
Right. Unless it’s super hot or something, Joe, they just don’t, do they?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. You’d look for the chickens. Where were they? Well, you’d open the door to this little—it was a little cinder block, maybe 8×8 with a sloped tar paper roof on it, They were free to come and go. Occasionally, it seemed that they’d come out in the morning and whatnot, but they were generally in that little eight-by-eight cinder block house.
SPEAKER 18 :
By the way, Joe, I’ve watched some of this with my own two eyes at certain either family members’ homes that had chicken coops or on farms and things along those lines. And no, I wasn’t raised on a farm, although I was raised in the country and around a lot of the things that we’re talking about right now, as I know you were as well, Joe. And the reality is… Furthermore, I don’t want to get off on a tangent here, Joe, but the majority of people don’t even understand the difference between one versus the other, to the point, Joe, where most people don’t even know where colored eggs come from. And I’m not exaggerating, am I?
SPEAKER 07 :
No, you’re not, John. You’re not.
SPEAKER 18 :
So we’ve yet got those same individuals making decisions on how the rest of us are going to eat.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and the same thing, John, it applies to so many things in the state legislature. You’ve got people who know nothing about chickens making laws about chickens. You’ve got people who know nothing about guns making laws about guns. By the way, if you get a chance, I sent you a copy of a Colorado editorial about if you want people to stop buying guns.
SPEAKER 18 :
Oh, yeah. And sorry, I try to read those, but if you don’t have a subscription and if I read too many of them, then they don’t let me. But I got the gist of it. I mean, I read enough of it and the preliminary stuff where I got the gist of it.
SPEAKER 07 :
And for those who haven’t seen it, I forget which Colorado newspaper it’s from, and by the way, two of the biggest groups that are buying guns these days are African Americans and single women. And the editorial goes on, and he cites reliable statistics, and he says, why do you think African Americans and single women are buying guns are the biggest, showing the biggest increase? It’s because crime is getting out of control. So if you want people to stop buying guns, That’s where he goes on to say, so if you want people to stop buying so many guns, do something about the things that are making them fearful, which is that they now believe that you can’t keep them safe. So you know what?
SPEAKER 18 :
If you want to cut back on that, make them at least feel safe.
SPEAKER 07 :
Make them feel safe, and maybe single women and African Americans won’t be buying so many guns. And he goes on to say, and by the way, the proposed ban on semi-automatic pistols, which would leave you only with revolvers, by the way, wouldn’t affect people like you and me who already own them. It would affect people who, disadvantaged groups, who think they need one or want one, because if that law banning semi-automatic pistols goes into effect, I think the proposed effective date would be July. After July, if you’re a single woman or an African American who wants to buy a gun for self-protection, you wouldn’t be able to buy a semi-automatic pistol in the state of Colorado.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yep, yep.
SPEAKER 07 :
Wouldn’t bother you, wouldn’t bother me.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, and the downside, Joe, is to your point a moment ago, that it penalizes the people that need it the most, is what I should say.
SPEAKER 07 :
That need it the most. Always does, John.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, because, again, you and I, I mean, I don’t want it to pass because at the end of the day, I want people to have their freedoms. I also don’t want it to pass because there’ll be a huge fight over it because it’s unconstitutional what they’re doing. And Colorado, in the end, will lose. And all we will do as taxpayers is spend a gob of taxpayer money trying to defend something that, frankly, is unconstitutional in the first place. But that doesn’t keep the left from doing it.
SPEAKER 07 :
No, and, John, I’m grateful. I actually did a little analysis yesterday. You know, when I first moved to New Jersey, you couldn’t get a concealed carry permit, and then the Bruin decision came out of the Supreme Court that told the states, hey, cut it out, you have to issue concealed carry permits. Well, I added up all the hoops I had to jump through to get a concealed carry permit. You know what it cost me to get a concealed carry permit in New Jersey?
SPEAKER 18 :
I can’t remember what you told me, but it’s not cheap.
SPEAKER 1 :
$600.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, not cheap. Including, by the way— Which, by the way, for a lot of people, that’s above the price of entry.
SPEAKER 07 :
And not only that, and if you don’t own a car, John, and here’s a catch-22. Well, first of all, you have to go to these out of the – you don’t get fingerprinted at the police station. You have to go to some third-party fingerprint thing. And then you have to go to a designated authorized shooting range. And if you don’t own a car, you can’t take your gun. There’s a shooting proficiency test you have to take. Well, but if you don’t own a car – You can’t take your gun on public transportation in New Jersey, so it’s a catch-22.
SPEAKER 18 :
So in other words, again, those that need it most can’t.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. Because they’re penalized. So let’s assume you scrape together the $300 or $400 to buy the gun. Well, now you’re going to need another $600 to pay for the fingerprinting and the background checks and then the shooting proficiency test, which is $150. But then how do you get to the shooting range that might be 40, 50, 60 miles away from your house – If you don’t have a car and you can’t take your gun on public transportation, how do you get there?
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
You can’t.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, you can’t. So you’re not going to have one.
SPEAKER 07 :
So it’s basically in the state of New Jersey, we don’t want poor people to own guns.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, and ultimately, and as you know, Joe, it’s always a progression. That’s why they’re called progressives because they start there and their end goal is something completely different, which, by the way, is to take yours away.
SPEAKER 07 :
Exactly. It’s the camel’s nose under the flap of the tent. Let’s get started. The whole camel’s in the tent. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 18 :
Joe, appreciate you very much. Thank you for that. And somebody asked, how does Joe know about birds? Does he study things like this all day long? No, Joe grew up in the country and the farm and did a lot of things younger, like myself, and some of these things you just learn as you go. And somebody also said that, yeah, they don’t imagine me owning birds. birds no um while i could and i’ve got plenty of room to do it and have the ability for sure to do it um yeah just frankly um not my thing um if it comes to that and that’s what it needs you know that’s what needs to be done i’m more than willing to go out and and do that and handle chickens and all of that. But, yeah, just no offense time-wise, just not my thing. And those of you that are doing it, great, good for you, and I admire all of you that do, and that is absolutely fabulous. Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning is coming up next. And if you’ve got a problem with your furnace or your HVAC at all, in fact, you just think, gee, this thing isn’t working like it used to. I don’t seem to be getting the warmth that I once did. Give Cub Creek a call. Have them come out and check things. They’ll give you a performance evaluation. Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning. Find them at klzradio.com.
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SPEAKER 16 :
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SPEAKER 18 :
Back to Rush to Reason. All right, we are back. John and Cheyenne, you’re next. Go ahead, sir.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, I hope those… The egg law passes to get rid of it, and the gun law fails. But from a Wyoming resident, I hope the reverse, because then that’ll be just more things that people will be coming to Wyoming to buy. Guns.
SPEAKER 18 :
You’re not wrong. No, no, you’re not wrong, John. And that’s, I mean, the whole thing is just, you’re right, it forces people to do things out of state.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and I drive through, you know, we’ve got two Walmarts in Cheyenne, and the There’s a lot of Colorado plates in there if you pull in there. A lot more than you would expect.
SPEAKER 18 :
Not surprising. There’s probably, truth be told, John, and I don’t know this to be a fact, but it wouldn’t shock me. There’s probably a black market on eggs from people that drive up there, then come back and sell to their neighbors and make a profit.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, and I think the last time I bought eggs two weeks ago or something, I got 18 large eggs for $4.99. That’s pretty cheap. Whatever that was. Yeah, that was at the Walmart.
SPEAKER 18 :
And that’s back to old prices of the high twos for a dozen, because you bought a dozen and a half. So, yeah, I mean, you’re about $3 or so a dozen, I’m guessing.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, $3 and something like that. Yeah, $3 and some change, roughly.
SPEAKER 18 :
By the way, I far cry from $7, John.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, and you guys are paying, what, $7?
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, somebody texted in a minute ago, it’s like $7.98 a dozen or so.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, and I saw pictures on X. of people down around the Denver area, Westminster, where there’s no eggs.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, thank you. You took the words out of my mouth. There’s other places where if you don’t get there at the right time, you may not have any, period. There is none to buy.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, I mean, and the egg safe. But it’s other things, too. I mean, you know, you ran Magpul out of Colorado, and they’ve been here now 10 years. Driving. And they just put it. Yeah, they put out a news release that it’s the best thing we ever did for our company to move because we don’t have income tax on businesses either.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, so they’re happy. That was a great move on their part.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, and from what I understand, I don’t know if it’s true, this is on the rumor mill, that he told all his employees when they moved, you have to move to Wyoming because I will not pay you. any state taxes to colorado after we’re done i had heard the same thing i don’t think that’s i don’t think you’re far off on that john i think that was kind of the mandate you know if you if you want to stay fine you know don’t feel obligated you don’t have to go with us but if you do you are yeah because he yeah he he was saying that you know if you live in colorado and work in wyoming he still has to withhold colorado state income tax and he didn’t want nothing to do with your state right i can’t blame him that’s that’s That’s a shame, though, because it’s such a beautiful state. I mean, other than the Boulder to Denver corridor, and even that’s kind of pretty. I was up at Steamboat two weeks ago. Gosh, what a beautiful place to just go and enjoy.
SPEAKER 18 :
I know.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yet, you know, we were staying in a condo, and we made sure we brought our eggs and everything with us so we didn’t have to go to the grocery store there.
SPEAKER 18 :
for things that we were going to need just for like breakfast and stuff before we headed out i mean i mean think about anything that’s something we haven’t even talked about nor has it probably been talked about down at the capitol but you take some of those towns that are literally you know you take burlington versus goodland so you go to buy eggs in burlington they’re going to be three times higher than that across the line over in goodland kansas i mean john how stupid
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, I mean, you can look at it. Yeah, from Fort Collins to Cheyenne is a 45-minute drive.
SPEAKER 18 :
Right. Well, Goodland, Kansas, I mean, you’re talking, what, 20 minutes or so, one to the other?
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, and what about on the other side?
SPEAKER 18 :
What is it, Grand Junction to the next town in Utah? Yeah, I mean, you can go to all of the different, you know, outer border areas of the state and find similar situations.
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, yeah, that’s why I’m saying that. I mean, you guys… allowing the people to pass these laws because they think it’s good, and then it hurts them. And then that idiot in CD6… you know who I’m talking about, comes out and says, why isn’t Trump doing something about the price of eggs in Colorado?
SPEAKER 18 :
What an idiot.
SPEAKER 08 :
Did you see that post?
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, I mean, again, what an idiot. I mean, why? He’s going to change our, you know, we like state rights. Last I checked, we still believe in state rights. Are you going to have Trump come in with some sort of a federal mandate and overrule your cage-free law? No, that’s not going to happen. You guys did that.
SPEAKER 08 :
He wouldn’t. Yeah.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, he wouldn’t anyway. It’s just to teach a lesson. He’s not going to do that.
SPEAKER 08 :
No. He’s going to say you passed laws. And then that other idiot, Tlaib, from Michigan, she was yelling about the same thing because Michigan passed the same law you guys did.
SPEAKER 18 :
She is one of those, John, that honestly doesn’t have the brains God gave an ant.
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, she’s probably not as stupid as we think, but she’s just so stuck in her ways and so brainwashed that she can’t think outside the box.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, which in my opinion means she’s not very bright. If you can’t think for yourself and you can’t think out of the box and you’re so brainwashed that you only think one way, you’re a small brain person, John. I’m sorry. I don’t know any other way to say it.
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, I agree. She’s just, that whole group of clueless, they’re just clueless.
SPEAKER 18 :
That’s why you call them the squad, because they’re all dumb as rocks.
SPEAKER 08 :
Between all of them, I don’t think their IQ adds up to 100.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, unfortunately, and I don’t want to get off on a tangent, because I know we’re getting tight on time here to the break, John, but the reality is most politicians, you guys have heard me talk about this, and I mean this sincerely, this includes both sides of the aisle, most politicians aren’t real bright.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, and the ones that are are the ones that are attacked the most.
SPEAKER 18 :
Because they actually do things because they have a brain to do it. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER 08 :
John, you have a good right to man.
SPEAKER 18 :
Appreciate you, John, very much. And I know I know I sound hard on politicians at times, but folks, again, remember that I have a unique opportunity to not only rub elbows with some of these individuals, but ask hard questions at hard times about different things they may be doing during their campaign or even after when they’re trying to pass a bill or do different things along those lines and so on. So I have a unique opportunity to talk to some of these people and in a way that, frankly, most people don’t get the opportunity to talk about. And even some of you that are listening, when you call your representative or your congressman or whatever, you’re likely to get a staff or you’re likely not to talk to them. And if you do, it’s going to be very limited in time and talking about a particular subject, not a broad spectrum of subjects. So trust me when I say this. The majority, and I mean the majority. There are a few exceptions, and I’ve named some of those in the past. But the majority of politicians, local, state, national, are literally not very bright. They knew how to get elected. They knew the right people. They knew maybe how to fundraise or had the right people around them to even do so. In some cases, they were sort of thrown in even to the race by who knows who. And by God’s grace, got elected. But frankly, at the end of the day, not bright by any means. And it pains me to say that because the folks that are running things should be the best and the brightest. Unfortunately, politics doesn’t typically generate that. It really does generate a lot of lemmings that know the right speak, that know the right things to say, maybe even know the right things to do according to what they’re doing for their office. But they’re definitely not the brightest. And I’m sorry, I’ve met a lot of these people, like I say, out in public, you get to interview them and so on. And I even have conversations after the interview is over one on one. And I’ll just tell you straight up, they’re not that bright. That’s the sad part of all of this. In this particular law we have in Colorado about the cage free nonsense with eggs is definitely case in point. Veteran windows and doors, 35% off windows, 45% off doors, free labor to install. Talk to Dave today. Find him at klzradio.com.
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SPEAKER 16 :
Suck it up, buttercup. Back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 18 :
All right, that’s it for today. I did not get to all of my topics today, so I’ll put some of those into tomorrow. Andy, of course, will be with me. We’ve got a lot of things to discuss, a couple of interviews as well. But most of all, guys, enjoy your night. Stay safe. Stay up on all the things that we’re talking about. And, again, most of all, if you’ve got time tomorrow to go down and help, potentially defeat one of the current gun bills. It literally is a way of taking away a lot of guns here in Colorado. Please do so. And that’s it for tonight, guys. Have a great evening. This is Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
