1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,960 Speaker 1: Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch crunch crunchy, crunch, 2 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:10,119 Speaker 1: crunch crunch crunchy, crunch crunch crunchy, crunch crunch crunch crunch 3 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:16,800 Speaker 1: crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch cruch. Okay, 4 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:17,840 Speaker 1: thirty seconds is too long. 5 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:20,760 Speaker 2: Did you check the expiration date on the goobers? They 6 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:25,160 Speaker 2: they are not expired? Like, screw the children. 7 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:30,600 Speaker 3: How awesome is that that the our goober listeners are 8 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:34,640 Speaker 3: to ADHD. They can't even say crunch or crunchy for 9 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:37,240 Speaker 3: thirty seconds. They get distracted by their own bit. 10 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:42,880 Speaker 2: Crunch crunch crunch. Oh shiny right exactly. She just renamed 11 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:50,320 Speaker 2: this the situation with ADHD. Screw the children. That's right, 12 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,000 Speaker 2: screw the children. And by the way, thank you on 13 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:56,840 Speaker 2: the on the text line for confirming touchline is pretty 14 00:00:56,840 --> 00:01:03,960 Speaker 2: good too. Uh. Regarding kids making adult decisions, you are correct, sir. 15 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:06,759 Speaker 2: Kids shouldn't be able to decide what industries go out 16 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:09,880 Speaker 2: of business and which adults lose their jobs. It's ridiculous 17 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:11,480 Speaker 2: that you can't have a plastic bag to put all 18 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:13,920 Speaker 2: the other plastic bags in the grocery store to take 19 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 2: into to take home. Stupid when I grew the children 20 00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 2: fourty five eighteen. When I pick up groceries, the stores 21 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 2: are wrapping everything in plastic. I have a ton of 22 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 2: those stupid plastic vegetable bags. Did anyone tell the stupid 23 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 2: kids that they grew the children stupid? Screw the stupid 24 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 2: children is what we really need. People need ninety five 25 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:39,120 Speaker 2: oho four. People need to stop letting their children be brainwashed. 26 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:43,440 Speaker 2: Shopping bags were just good the way they used to be. 27 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:46,360 Speaker 2: Now look at us, arms full of groceries and nothing 28 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:49,000 Speaker 2: to carry them in because we refuse to pay a 29 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:52,160 Speaker 2: bag fee, a bag tax, or whatever they're labeling it as. 30 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:56,640 Speaker 2: Just bring bags back. Screw the children. The children aren't 31 00:01:56,720 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 2: educated properly on the subject. It's all about the fields, 32 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 2: it is. It is about the fields. Screw the children 33 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 2: and fifty nine sixteen Michael, Yes, that was my point. 34 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 2: Politicians used children as human shields. The progressive tax rate 35 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:15,120 Speaker 2: proposal that is or might be an initiative to vote 36 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:18,120 Speaker 2: on in November is to fund schools, and another proposition 37 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 2: to take pet tabor is to fund schools. The earned 38 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:23,880 Speaker 2: income tax credit was designed to help people, which I well, 39 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:26,239 Speaker 2: okay that one lost me. I mean, I think I 40 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:29,480 Speaker 2: get the topics, but talk about a run on sentence, 41 00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:34,639 Speaker 2: all right? Instagram. We're going to Instagram for a moment. 42 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:39,000 Speaker 2: I follow an account which I'm sure that Ross and 43 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:41,799 Speaker 2: Mandy have talked about at some point. Do Better Denver. 44 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 2: By the way, you can follow me on Instagram too 45 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:48,840 Speaker 2: at Michael D. Brown Do Better Denver. They posted this yesterday. 46 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 2: Let me just read what they wrote six twenty and 47 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:54,120 Speaker 2: this was on the news last night too, six twenty 48 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:57,800 Speaker 2: one and six thirty three. Seventeenth Street, purchased by the 49 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 2: Lozado Group for just three point two million dollars in 50 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:05,360 Speaker 2: twenty twenty five, was worth two hundred million dollars in 51 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:09,200 Speaker 2: twenty nineteen. Now City of Denver has agreed to use 52 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 2: tax payer money for a sixty three million dollar loan 53 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:17,320 Speaker 2: do Better Denver Rights. Here is how the cycle works. 54 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:23,799 Speaker 2: One invite in vagrants, crime, and chaos. Downtown offices sit 55 00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:28,920 Speaker 2: vacant while the area declines. Two developers scoop up properties 56 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:32,120 Speaker 2: for pennies on the dollar parentheses three point two million 57 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 2: dollar purchase in twenty twenty five, building's worth two hundred 58 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 2: million dollars in twenty nineteen. Three turn the entire block 59 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 2: into a giant subsidized housing project at least seventy units 60 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:55,280 Speaker 2: at sixty percent of whatever that affordable income floor is. Next, 61 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 2: use taxpayer money for low interest loans to fund at 62 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:02,920 Speaker 2: sixty three million dollars. Next, developers get rich on the rebuild, 63 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 2: while we taxpayers pay. Next, more subsidized units, bring more 64 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 2: drug addicts and crime downtown. Last, businesses see no reason 65 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:18,720 Speaker 2: to return and then do better. Denver concludes. They call 66 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:22,400 Speaker 2: it revitalization, but we are the ones footing the bill 67 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:29,640 Speaker 2: while developers cash in. I read that and I thought, 68 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:35,480 Speaker 2: generally speaking, that is correct, but I wanted to analyze 69 00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 2: it because I think the numbers were off just a 70 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:41,640 Speaker 2: little bit and it's slightly imprecise. So let's walk through it. 71 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:44,960 Speaker 2: Here's what checks out the three. This is a. This 72 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:47,960 Speaker 2: is a I know you're familiar with these buildings downtown. 73 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 2: They're there there, there's a plaza between them. I forget 74 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:57,080 Speaker 2: how many square I think it's in my notes here. 75 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 2: I'll get to it. But I know you've seen this before. 76 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:05,520 Speaker 2: The three point two million dollar purchase price and the 77 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 2: two hundred million dollar twenty nineteen valuation. That's confirmed the 78 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:16,040 Speaker 2: market data shows those exact figures. That is a ninety 79 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:20,080 Speaker 2: eight percent collapse in the market value in a building 80 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:25,320 Speaker 2: in a in an office building in downtown Denver. But 81 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:28,560 Speaker 2: there's a there's a wrinkle that that Do Better Denver 82 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 2: omits EQ Office, which is a Blackstone managed firm. They're 83 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,480 Speaker 2: the ones that actually sold the buildings first to Denver 84 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:41,320 Speaker 2: based E t M Ventures for about seven million dollars 85 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:44,920 Speaker 2: in November of twenty twenty four. E t M then 86 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:48,560 Speaker 2: sold to Lozado in April of last year for the 87 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:52,960 Speaker 2: three point two million dollars. So Mazzatto wasn't the bottom 88 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 2: fishing buyer from two hundred million dollars, they were the 89 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 2: second bottom fisher. Now the sixty three million dollar loan 90 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:07,520 Speaker 2: from the Downtown Denver Association, that's confirmed. Also, it was 91 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:12,800 Speaker 2: unanimously approved at three percent interest for ten years, representing 92 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:16,760 Speaker 2: twenty percent of the total project cost a three hundred 93 00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 2: and fifteen million dollars. Now here's where. So that that's 94 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:24,039 Speaker 2: those are all the facts. Here's where I think Do 95 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:27,640 Speaker 2: Better Denver is slightly imprecise. I'm not not criticizing. I 96 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:30,960 Speaker 2: just think they're slightly imprecise because the ultimate conclusion is 97 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:36,120 Speaker 2: going to be the same. The framing as taxpayer money 98 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:43,360 Speaker 2: is directionally accurate, but technically sloppy. The Downtown Development author 99 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:50,320 Speaker 2: that the downtown the business authority uses what's called tax 100 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:56,640 Speaker 2: increment financing TIF TIF that captures this. It captures the 101 00:06:56,920 --> 00:07:02,720 Speaker 2: incremental increase in property in sales tax revenue generated by 102 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:08,400 Speaker 2: a redeveloped site, not general existing fund, not existing general 103 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:14,560 Speaker 2: fund appropriations. So TIFF does not increase tax rates. What 104 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 2: it does is it reallocates the increase in tax revenue 105 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 2: from a very specific, defined area and then reinvest that 106 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:30,320 Speaker 2: money in that area. Now that said, tax increment financing 107 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 2: subsidies are not appropriated directly from the city's budget, But 108 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:40,640 Speaker 2: what do we do about buds? Pay attention? Now, Denver 109 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:46,640 Speaker 2: incurs a loss through foregone tax revenue, So I think 110 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:50,960 Speaker 2: calling it a public subsidy is entirely fair. It's not 111 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:53,800 Speaker 2: a grant from the general fund, though, but it is 112 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:59,480 Speaker 2: diverted future public revenue at a below market rate. Now, 113 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:03,920 Speaker 2: the frame of the seventy units at SIXTYI I think 114 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:08,360 Speaker 2: is slightly misleading. At least seventy of the residential units 115 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:13,280 Speaker 2: would be designated as affordable, but out of seven hundred 116 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:19,000 Speaker 2: plus total units. The project is primarily market rate housing. 117 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:23,240 Speaker 2: It's not a giant subsidized housing project. When I heard 118 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:25,840 Speaker 2: this on the news last night, that's the impression that 119 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:28,760 Speaker 2: they give is that this is going to be a 120 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 2: giant all subsidized housing. It's not. But the genuinely alarming 121 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:42,040 Speaker 2: parts is undersold by do Better Denver. There are four 122 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:46,640 Speaker 2: things that I think they miss. The city itself raised 123 00:08:46,679 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 2: concerns Denver itself, godlig g Whiz raised concerns about giving 124 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:56,120 Speaker 2: a large loan to an out of state developer on 125 00:08:56,200 --> 00:09:01,199 Speaker 2: their very first Denver project. That's from slides inadvertently visible 126 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:06,000 Speaker 2: during a public live stream of this proposal. And then 127 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 2: when they were asked about the lease up strategy for 128 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:13,800 Speaker 2: seven hundred units, Lozzato told the board quote, nobody can 129 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:17,720 Speaker 2: sit here and promise you you're going to lease this up. 130 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:22,440 Speaker 2: Anybody that does that is lying. In other words, the 131 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:26,200 Speaker 2: developer is basically saying, we don't really have any guarantee 132 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:30,160 Speaker 2: that we can lease this thing out. So the board 133 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:34,920 Speaker 2: to prove the loan anyway. They approved it unanimously. Then 134 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:40,000 Speaker 2: there's actually an unresolved ground lease dispute at six three 135 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:45,760 Speaker 2: three seventeenth Street owned by something called La Lakeside Park Company. 136 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:49,520 Speaker 2: Those are the owners of the Lakeside Amusement Park. That 137 00:09:49,559 --> 00:09:53,360 Speaker 2: could affect the project's size and it's financing. Now, why 138 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:56,120 Speaker 2: everybody's going through all of this and you have an 139 00:09:56,240 --> 00:10:01,960 Speaker 2: unresolved ground leased dispute on the prop Who in the 140 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:06,439 Speaker 2: hell's approving this stuff? What real estate lawyer is saying, yo, 141 00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:08,920 Speaker 2: go ahead and do this, or maybe some real estate 142 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:12,000 Speaker 2: lawyer who's advising these organizations is saying, wam you have 143 00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:15,320 Speaker 2: none given unresolved ground lease dispute? Maybe you ought to 144 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:18,920 Speaker 2: resolve that before you enter into these agreements. But no, 145 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:24,120 Speaker 2: of course not, because they just were ram this through. Lastly, Lozato, 146 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:28,640 Speaker 2: this ultimate developer, is also pursuing a second Denver project 147 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:32,239 Speaker 2: that's at sixteen twenty five and sixteen seventy five Broadway, 148 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:35,560 Speaker 2: the Denver Energy Center. They purchased that for five point 149 00:10:35,559 --> 00:10:39,480 Speaker 2: twenty five million dollars, that's less than seven dollars per 150 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:43,360 Speaker 2: square foot, and they plan to convert one tower into 151 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:46,600 Speaker 2: residents at a cost of one hundred and fifty million dollars. 152 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:49,520 Speaker 2: And they plan to apply for a second loan for 153 00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:54,960 Speaker 2: that project too. So two of the most iconic skyscrapers 154 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:59,880 Speaker 2: in Downtown Denver, buildings that at one time truly defined 155 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:04,200 Speaker 2: downtown Denver skyline, that once hummed with thousand I can 156 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:07,800 Speaker 2: remember going in there decades ago, and those places were 157 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:12,000 Speaker 2: just humming with thousands of workers. There's tens of millions 158 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:15,439 Speaker 2: of dollars in economic activity. They are now at the 159 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:18,000 Speaker 2: center of a deal that should make every Denver taxpayer 160 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:21,640 Speaker 2: stop and ask a really simple question, who's this actually 161 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:25,880 Speaker 2: good for? Who's this really going to benefit? Here are 162 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:29,680 Speaker 2: the facts. Six twenty one and six thirty three Seventeenth Street, 163 00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:34,120 Speaker 2: the old first Interstate towers. Remember those Those are landmarks 164 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:38,720 Speaker 2: that date back to nineteen fifty seven. In nineteen seventy four, 165 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:43,559 Speaker 2: were valued at approximately two hundred million dollars in twenty nineteen. 166 00:11:44,679 --> 00:11:47,560 Speaker 2: By the time this California developed from the named Asher 167 00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:50,440 Speaker 2: Lozzato got his hands on them. In April of this 168 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:54,720 Speaker 2: past year, they sold for three point two million dollars. 169 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:58,280 Speaker 2: Three point two million. As I said, that's a ninety 170 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:02,280 Speaker 2: eight percent collapse in the value of that property in 171 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:08,600 Speaker 2: six years. That shows you how bad downtown Denver is now. 172 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:12,920 Speaker 2: In fairness, that collapse is not entirely Denver's fault. You 173 00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:16,080 Speaker 2: had COVID, and then with COVID you had remote working. 174 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:19,440 Speaker 2: Then you had all their increase in interest rates, and 175 00:12:19,559 --> 00:12:22,280 Speaker 2: all of that hammered office markets and sitting all across 176 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:27,400 Speaker 2: the country. But here's what is Denver's fault. The policy 177 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:32,520 Speaker 2: choices that accelerate the deterioration of Downtown Denver, that drove 178 00:12:32,559 --> 00:12:36,079 Speaker 2: those businesses out of downtown Denver, that make workers in 179 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:40,000 Speaker 2: downtown Denver feel unsafe, That turned the sixteenth Street Mall 180 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:42,600 Speaker 2: in something you'd see in some sort of dystopian, you know, 181 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:47,640 Speaker 2: movie somewhere. The city's own data shows downtown office vacancy 182 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:53,200 Speaker 2: sitting at thirty five percent. Now that's not a market trend. 183 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:59,560 Speaker 2: That's a failure of governance. That's a lack of cops, 184 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:03,839 Speaker 2: law enforcement. That is the result of money that you 185 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:08,160 Speaker 2: spend on homeless, that you spend on migrants and vagrants, 186 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:12,240 Speaker 2: that you spend on illegal aliens. That's a governance failure. 187 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:18,160 Speaker 2: And that's why downtown Denver is a craphole city. So 188 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:20,520 Speaker 2: now what do we have because of that? We have 189 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:25,160 Speaker 2: two empty skyscrapers bought for pocket change and the Denver 190 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:29,720 Speaker 2: Downtown Development of Authority, the DDDA, a quasi government body, 191 00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:34,600 Speaker 2: has just unanimously approved a sixty three million dollar loan 192 00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:39,360 Speaker 2: to help Lozado convert them into seven hundred apartments, a 193 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:44,160 Speaker 2: loan that comes at three percent interest for ten years. 194 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:48,480 Speaker 2: How's your three percent mortgage working out? And is it 195 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:52,960 Speaker 2: coming from a government authority, coming from a tiff from 196 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:57,760 Speaker 2: a tax increase financing mechanism? Yeah, I didn't think so. 197 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:00,800 Speaker 2: Let me explain what's happening here is the City of 198 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:04,640 Speaker 2: Denver will tell you this isn't taxpayer money. It's tax 199 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:09,960 Speaker 2: increment financing. Let me translate that for you. Instead of 200 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:14,440 Speaker 2: the increased property in sales taxes from this development flowing 201 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:18,800 Speaker 2: to the city's general fund going to say Denver Public Schools, 202 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:23,480 Speaker 2: to all the taxing entities that apparently need that tax money, 203 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:27,280 Speaker 2: that money gets diverted back to pay off this developers 204 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:32,120 Speaker 2: loan at a below market rate. Money that would otherwise 205 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:38,440 Speaker 2: fund city services instead goes to subsidize a California developer 206 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:42,160 Speaker 2: that bought a distressed building for pennies on the dollar. 207 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:47,040 Speaker 2: And here's where you ought to just stop and put 208 00:14:47,040 --> 00:14:50,560 Speaker 2: your coffee down for a moment. When a board member 209 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:55,320 Speaker 2: of the Downtown Denver Downtown Development Authority asks the auto 210 00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:59,240 Speaker 2: point blank about whether seven hundred apartments could actually be 211 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:02,720 Speaker 2: leased up. He said, and I'm reading from the record, 212 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:07,400 Speaker 2: quote nobody can sit here and promise you you're going 213 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:11,400 Speaker 2: to lease this up. Anybody that does that is lying. 214 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:17,720 Speaker 2: And then the board voted yes unanimously. This is the 215 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:22,920 Speaker 2: developer's first project in Denver. Companies based in Los Angeles. 216 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:26,760 Speaker 2: He's already about a second pairage stressed Denver office towers 217 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:30,080 Speaker 2: for five point two five million dollars is reported coming 218 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:33,080 Speaker 2: back to the same trough for another public loan. So 219 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:37,160 Speaker 2: here's the uncomfortable truth. There may be a legitimate case 220 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:41,480 Speaker 2: for office to residential conversion as part of downtown Denver's revival. 221 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:45,280 Speaker 2: I'm not opposed to that conversion, but when the sequence 222 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:50,920 Speaker 2: is collapse, the value, the sequence is this collapse the value. 223 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:54,600 Speaker 2: Buy on the cheap and then ask the taxpayers to 224 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:59,840 Speaker 2: backstop your risk at a blow market rate. That's not revitalization. 225 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:07,320 Speaker 2: That's privatizing the upside and socializing the downside. The developer's 226 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:11,160 Speaker 2: going to walk away with profits if it works. Denver 227 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:16,240 Speaker 2: taxpayers they eat the loss if it doesn't work, and 228 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:19,840 Speaker 2: we already paid once we paid when the city's own 229 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:24,400 Speaker 2: policies helped empty those buildings in the first place. This 230 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:29,280 Speaker 2: is the insanity of what's going on. So I would 231 00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:32,840 Speaker 2: just add a few notes real quickly, because I again, 232 00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:35,200 Speaker 2: I'm not trying to disparage do Better Denver at all. 233 00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:37,920 Speaker 2: I'm trying to contextualize it, and I'm trying to give 234 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:40,800 Speaker 2: you more information, and I'm trying to reframe it more 235 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:44,600 Speaker 2: appropriately than what they did in an Instagram post. After all, 236 00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:48,520 Speaker 2: it's just an Instagram post. Because the Instagram posts where 237 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:53,480 Speaker 2: they say invites vagrants and crime, framing that implies that 238 00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:58,320 Speaker 2: it's intentional. I'm not really sure it's intentional. Now it 239 00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:01,040 Speaker 2: plays well to the base, but there's an easy rebuttle. 240 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:06,160 Speaker 2: I think the stronger argument is incompetence and bad policies 241 00:17:06,520 --> 00:17:11,560 Speaker 2: created these conditions, and now the same apparatus that created 242 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:14,880 Speaker 2: the incompetence and the bad policies is going to rewared 243 00:17:15,080 --> 00:17:18,040 Speaker 2: connected to developers to clean up the mess that they 244 00:17:18,080 --> 00:17:22,919 Speaker 2: help make. And the seventy units of sixty percent of AMI. 245 00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:26,399 Speaker 2: That line in the post is technically accurate, but I 246 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:30,840 Speaker 2: think it's framed misleadingly. It's seventy affordable units at a 247 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:34,240 Speaker 2: seven hundred total. I'd use the accurate version because it's 248 00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:39,240 Speaker 2: actually a stronger argument. The public loan requirement is only 249 00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:42,800 Speaker 2: seventy affordable units out of seven hundred, all the rest 250 00:17:42,800 --> 00:17:47,159 Speaker 2: of the apartments with the upmarket rate, So the subsidy justification, 251 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:51,520 Speaker 2: I think is incredibly thin, and then lasts but not 252 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:56,160 Speaker 2: least the ground least dispute with Lakeside Park Company. That's 253 00:17:56,200 --> 00:18:00,399 Speaker 2: a sleeper story worth tracking because if that falls upon heart, 254 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:07,560 Speaker 2: the entire financial structure will collapse and the downtown the 255 00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:12,200 Speaker 2: Denver Downtown Development Authority approved it anyway knowing that there 256 00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:15,880 Speaker 2: was It's like you're going to buy a house and 257 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:18,520 Speaker 2: the mortgage lender looks at it and says, well, we 258 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:20,600 Speaker 2: don't have a clean title here, but will approve your 259 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:24,119 Speaker 2: mortgage anyway. So they're going to take a security interest 260 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:28,879 Speaker 2: in something where there's already a legal dispute that somebody, 261 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:31,200 Speaker 2: whether it's the real estate lawyers for the developer or 262 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:36,160 Speaker 2: Downtown Development Authority, someone's recognized there is a real estate 263 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:42,919 Speaker 2: dispute going on the downtown Denver Development Authority, City and 264 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:48,280 Speaker 2: County of Denver, Lozato. This is another form of money 265 00:18:48,359 --> 00:18:52,800 Speaker 2: laundering and taxpayers. If this doesn't work, you will be 266 00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:57,119 Speaker 2: on the hook for it and all of the conditions 267 00:18:57,119 --> 00:19:01,280 Speaker 2: that created this opportunity for this money laundering team, the 268 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:04,439 Speaker 2: very same people that are now engaged in it. 269 00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:10,560 Speaker 4: Remember, all packages to Michael need to return address Boris 270 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:17,280 Speaker 4: and Natasha Froshbite Falls, Minnesota. That way there, Dragon will 271 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:19,359 Speaker 4: be scared to open them. You'll have to give him 272 00:19:19,359 --> 00:19:19,840 Speaker 4: to Michael. 273 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:24,159 Speaker 2: Oh, I don't open them because I I when I 274 00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:25,760 Speaker 2: was the under secretary, I had to deal with all 275 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:29,000 Speaker 2: the anthrax stuff going on, And yeah. 276 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:30,920 Speaker 3: I was a little bit terrified of opening this package 277 00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:33,439 Speaker 3: because it could have been a box full of teeth. 278 00:19:34,280 --> 00:19:38,160 Speaker 3: That knowing this audience, it really could have been a box. 279 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:40,360 Speaker 2: Full of teeth. I'm surprised it wasn't a box full 280 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:48,639 Speaker 2: of teeth. The oh, well, I lost my tab. I 281 00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:50,520 Speaker 2: really did want to talk about this. Now I got 282 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:52,280 Speaker 2: to find the stupid tab. Where did it go? 283 00:19:53,119 --> 00:19:53,399 Speaker 4: Uh? 284 00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:56,520 Speaker 2: Let me see, I can find it real quickly. There 285 00:19:56,640 --> 00:20:01,040 Speaker 2: is a editorial. Let me see if I can find 286 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:04,080 Speaker 2: Sorry about this? I thought I had it ready to go. 287 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:07,600 Speaker 3: You are really sorry about this? 288 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:09,680 Speaker 2: No, I'm not sorry about it at all. I mean, we. 289 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:11,639 Speaker 3: Wasted half an hour talking about the goobers and a 290 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:15,040 Speaker 3: dollar tree receipt. They're gonna worry about you finding a 291 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:16,760 Speaker 3: story you actually want to talk about here. 292 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:23,560 Speaker 2: Well, it bothers me that I just had the tab 293 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:25,560 Speaker 2: up and then it disappeared. 294 00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:27,399 Speaker 3: Did you close it by any chance? So it's command 295 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:30,359 Speaker 3: shift tee. See if that opens back up for you. 296 00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:38,040 Speaker 2: No, I don't know from there. Yeah, all right, no, y'all, Okay, y'all. 297 00:20:38,040 --> 00:20:43,560 Speaker 2: Hear it is here. It is so disappeared in Westward yesterday. Now, 298 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:46,159 Speaker 2: for those of you might be listening outside the metro area, 299 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:48,240 Speaker 2: or you've never been in Denver, you live out of state, 300 00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:56,000 Speaker 2: Westward is run is one of those free local community newspapers. 301 00:20:57,359 --> 00:20:59,600 Speaker 2: Patty Calhoun, who's a friend of mine, I've known Patty 302 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:05,600 Speaker 2: for decades, is uh. She's a diehard liberal. She's quite 303 00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:09,760 Speaker 2: proud of that. She's very progressive. And Westward itself. Westward 304 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:12,760 Speaker 2: used to be comprised of a few stories, remember Dragon. 305 00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:16,200 Speaker 2: Westward used to be comprised of a few stories about 306 00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:19,359 Speaker 2: you know, whatever going on in Denver, no arty, fartsy 307 00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:22,119 Speaker 2: kind of stuff. And in the back pages were all 308 00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:30,240 Speaker 2: adult advertisements, you know, hookups and you know massages, for 309 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:35,040 Speaker 2: a yes, and then when medical marijuana came about, then 310 00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:39,399 Speaker 2: all of the adult stuff disappeared. And yeah, now now 311 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:42,160 Speaker 2: it's all marijuana. In fact, I think they even may 312 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:46,640 Speaker 2: still have a weed editor. That's all they covers weed 313 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:52,359 Speaker 2: and Frick who is a former district judge in Colorado. 314 00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:57,880 Speaker 2: Now Patty Calhoun controls as the publisher. She controls everything 315 00:21:57,920 --> 00:22:04,960 Speaker 2: that goes into Westward. Here is the headline opinion. Jenna Griswold, 316 00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:09,680 Speaker 2: who is our Colorado Secretary of State. Jenna Griswold's fabrications 317 00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:15,479 Speaker 2: are disqualifying in the attorney general's race. Quote. If we 318 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:18,840 Speaker 2: are going to effectively stand up to Trump's lawlessness, our 319 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:22,000 Speaker 2: next attorney general must know what they're doing in a 320 00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:26,320 Speaker 2: court of law. No Feisi Shirlocke you think though, And 321 00:22:26,359 --> 00:22:32,280 Speaker 2: this is written by a judge. Now I disagree with 322 00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:39,399 Speaker 2: all of her premises, but her conclusion I happen to 323 00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:43,160 Speaker 2: agree with. She writes that this is ant judge anfret. 324 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:47,200 Speaker 2: Truth has been under attack by Donald Trump for years now. 325 00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:51,840 Speaker 2: Colorado has our own crisis of trust and accountability. New 326 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:57,359 Speaker 2: reporting has exposed that Attorney General candidate Jenna Griswold falsely 327 00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:01,240 Speaker 2: claimed to have quote argued before the US Supreme Court. 328 00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:05,280 Speaker 2: Griswold has apparently repeated this untrue statement many times and 329 00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:10,080 Speaker 2: multiple venues, across speeches, media appearances, in campaign literature. In reality, 330 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:15,440 Speaker 2: Griswold isn't even credentialed to appear before the court, meaning 331 00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:19,040 Speaker 2: she's not even admitted to the United States Supreme Court. 332 00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:22,359 Speaker 2: I've never argued in from the Supreme Court, but I 333 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:26,439 Speaker 2: am admitted to the United States Supreme Court. And Judge 334 00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:30,200 Speaker 2: Frick writes, this is not a matter of nuanced lawyers speak. 335 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:35,080 Speaker 2: It's not an innocent I misspoke. This is a strategy 336 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:39,760 Speaker 2: to mislead voters about her qualification as to be the 337 00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:45,119 Speaker 2: state's lawyer top lawyer. Griswold is intentionally fabricating her legal 338 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:48,560 Speaker 2: experience because she needs to cover up the fact that 339 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:53,120 Speaker 2: she has never prosecuted a single case. When pressed, her 340 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:56,440 Speaker 2: campaign vaguely referenced the single case from fifteen years ago 341 00:23:56,440 --> 00:23:59,560 Speaker 2: in Washington, d C. Without providing any detail. In fact, 342 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:05,160 Speaker 2: Griswold has apparently never argued a case in Colorado. Most years, 343 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:08,359 Speaker 2: no one pays much attention to the AG's race, but 344 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:11,840 Speaker 2: this year is different. State attorney's generals are the lead 345 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:16,320 Speaker 2: are the last effective guardrail against this administration's authoritarianism, and 346 00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:21,439 Speaker 2: in Colorado, the Democrat primary is the whole election. If 347 00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:24,200 Speaker 2: we are going to effectively stand up to Trump's lawlessness, 348 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:27,280 Speaker 2: our next attorney general must know what they're doing in 349 00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:31,200 Speaker 2: a court of law. I find Griswold's dishonesty the judge 350 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:35,680 Speaker 2: rights particularly troubly. For many years I served as a 351 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:38,560 Speaker 2: district court judge in Denver for the second Judicial District. 352 00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:41,520 Speaker 2: I know the difference between a lawyer who has done 353 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:44,520 Speaker 2: the work and one who hasn't. The lawyers who appeared 354 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:47,280 Speaker 2: in my court would certainly know the difference between arguing 355 00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:49,760 Speaker 2: their case in front of me and sitting in the audience. 356 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:56,920 Speaker 2: Apparently Griswold does not. Her deceptions, Judge Frick writes, are 357 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:01,600 Speaker 2: doubly problematic because a lawyer's credit ability and reputation for 358 00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:06,639 Speaker 2: truthfulness is her most critical quality. Opposing counsel, witnesses, juries, 359 00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:09,159 Speaker 2: and judges must be able to trust that you are 360 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:13,639 Speaker 2: being truthful. This isn't just good practice, it's a requirement 361 00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:17,240 Speaker 2: under the lawyer's professional code of conduct. Someone who wants 362 00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:20,720 Speaker 2: to run Coloril's top legal office should know this better 363 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:25,480 Speaker 2: than anyone consider the stakes. The current AG Phil Wiser, 364 00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:29,040 Speaker 2: she writes, has done a superb job advancing some fifty 365 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:33,639 Speaker 2: six lawsuits challenging Trump's illegal and unconstitutional abuses of power. 366 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:36,520 Speaker 2: Ag Wiser and the attorneys in his office are known 367 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:42,920 Speaker 2: for their integrity, legal acumen, and effectiveness. But that hard 368 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:46,520 Speaker 2: won reputation will wither if we elect an Attorney General 369 00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:50,080 Speaker 2: who lacks the requisite legal experience and whose credibility is 370 00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:56,520 Speaker 2: already besmirched. She goes on, and she finally concludes with this, 371 00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:01,560 Speaker 2: and she is not the only alternative. Michael Doherty has 372 00:26:01,600 --> 00:26:05,199 Speaker 2: litigated countless criminal cases as the district attorney for Boulder 373 00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:09,040 Speaker 2: and as a consumer attorney. David Siligman has a sustained 374 00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:13,159 Speaker 2: record of experience with civil litigation. The Democrat primary offers 375 00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:18,000 Speaker 2: voters a choice between serious lawyers with real courtroom records. 376 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:21,400 Speaker 2: There's no reason to settle for a candidate who has 377 00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:27,440 Speaker 2: to invent one. That's in Westward basically telling you don't 378 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:34,320 Speaker 2: vote for Jenner Griswold. But I've got one basic question, Republicans. 379 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:39,120 Speaker 2: You got a chance here, You got a freaking chance here? 380 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:44,240 Speaker 2: Where are you was? You guys want boxes of teeth? 381 00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:56,480 Speaker 1: Section, Please confirm. 382 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:56,520 Speaker 2: Boxes of teeth sent to US. Here's a question for you. 383 00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:03,679 Speaker 2: What do in Vidia's artificial and diligence chips, an MRI machine, 384 00:27:04,119 --> 00:27:08,520 Speaker 2: and a birthday balloon all have in common helium? And 385 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:12,320 Speaker 2: right now, guess what, we got a problem. They're probably 386 00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:17,000 Speaker 2: tracking Operation Epic Fury. That's you know, the campaign and around, 387 00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:18,880 Speaker 2: and you probably know about the straight or her moves 388 00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:22,120 Speaker 2: being closed to shipping, and you know about oil prices. 389 00:27:23,119 --> 00:27:25,720 Speaker 2: But there's a supply chain story that nobody's telling you about. 390 00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:29,680 Speaker 2: And I think it matters enormously. The Uranian drone of 391 00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:33,760 Speaker 2: missile strikes didn't just hit iranium targets. They hit cutters 392 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:38,359 Speaker 2: ros Lafon facility that is the world's largest liquefied natural 393 00:27:38,359 --> 00:27:42,720 Speaker 2: gas plant. And because helium is produced as a byproduct 394 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:48,480 Speaker 2: of LNG processing. When cutters LNG stopped, cutters helium stopped too. 395 00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:52,960 Speaker 2: This is what should rattle you. The United States is 396 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:57,680 Speaker 2: the world's largest helium producer. We put out about eighty 397 00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:01,000 Speaker 2: one million cubic meters a year cutters number two that 398 00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:04,439 Speaker 2: are roughly a third of global supply. Russia's number three. 399 00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:08,119 Speaker 2: The Russian helium is manned under US and European sanctions. 400 00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:12,560 Speaker 2: So in the real usable market for helium, it's essentially 401 00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:16,240 Speaker 2: the United States and cutter and right now cutters offline. 402 00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:20,400 Speaker 2: That has removed about thirty three percent of global helium supply, 403 00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:27,080 Speaker 2: and that has created immediate constraints across all semiconductor manufacturing 404 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:32,560 Speaker 2: through healthcare and industrial gas markets. So why does that 405 00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:40,120 Speaker 2: matter beyond party balloons and blimps. During the fabrication of semiconductors, 406 00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:43,120 Speaker 2: the chip makers blow helium over the back of the 407 00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:47,360 Speaker 2: silicon wafers that controls the temperature during the etching process. 408 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:51,480 Speaker 2: That's the process that forms the transistor structures on every 409 00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:56,320 Speaker 2: one of these advanced chips. Helium's an excellent thermal conductor, 410 00:28:56,680 --> 00:29:01,160 Speaker 2: and under the right manufacturing processes, there's no viable replacement 411 00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:05,000 Speaker 2: for helium. None, no substitute. You can't use argon, you 412 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:10,800 Speaker 2: can't use nitrogen helium or guess what, we don't make chips. 413 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:17,760 Speaker 2: Advanced semiconductor fabrication facilities typically maintain about two maybe four 414 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:22,920 Speaker 2: weeks of helium inventory, compared to eight maybe twelve weeks 415 00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:27,040 Speaker 2: for all other kind of bolt gases. That clock started 416 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:31,840 Speaker 2: ticking twenty five days ago. And here's where it gets 417 00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:35,520 Speaker 2: very real very fast. You've probably seen as you've traveled 418 00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:38,200 Speaker 2: up and down I twenty five near downtown, you've seen 419 00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:42,520 Speaker 2: one of their outlets. Air Gas one of the largest 420 00:29:42,560 --> 00:29:46,880 Speaker 2: packaged gas distributors in the entire country. They declared a 421 00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:51,600 Speaker 2: Force Massouri event on March seventeenth, ten days ago. The 422 00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:56,720 Speaker 2: company now expects to provide some customers with as little 423 00:29:56,720 --> 00:30:02,840 Speaker 2: as half their normal monthly helium delivery. And not only 424 00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:05,160 Speaker 2: will it just be half what their normal delivery is, 425 00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:08,440 Speaker 2: they've added a surch charge of thirteen and a half 426 00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:12,280 Speaker 2: dollars per hundred a cubic feet force monsieur. What does 427 00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:15,240 Speaker 2: that mean? That's a legal term meaning an act of 428 00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:17,440 Speaker 2: God made us do it, except in this case it 429 00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:22,600 Speaker 2: wasn't really God, it was Aron Spot. Helium prices doubled 430 00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:27,120 Speaker 2: after the crisis began, some segments recording weekly price increases 431 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:31,640 Speaker 2: of thirty five to fifty percent, and one consulting firm 432 00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:34,640 Speaker 2: says maybe up to one hundred percent in some markets. 433 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:40,480 Speaker 2: Now where policymakers, congressmen and others are pushing to designate 434 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:45,280 Speaker 2: helium as a US critical mineral, they're trying to stimulate 435 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:49,720 Speaker 2: domestic investment and reduce our reliance on Cutter. Now that's 436 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:54,520 Speaker 2: a great idea. It's just twenty nine, twenty five years 437 00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:58,520 Speaker 2: too late, but nonetheless a good idea. The lesson here 438 00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:01,240 Speaker 2: is the same damn stupid good lesson. We keep learning 439 00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:07,760 Speaker 2: and refusing to absorb every supply chain that runs through 440 00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:11,960 Speaker 2: a geopolitical hot zone is a vulnerability to this country. 441 00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:18,560 Speaker 2: Semiconductors now parallyhelium. The cloud has a supply chain, and 442 00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:22,520 Speaker 2: it's heavier than most people realize. AI has a material's base, 443 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:28,320 Speaker 2: and it critically needs quiet industrial inputs. They seem to 444 00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:32,840 Speaker 2: be ignored until we hit a crisis. So the Iranian 445 00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:35,440 Speaker 2: war didn't just close the straight or moves to tankers. 446 00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:38,920 Speaker 2: It may have put a choke hold on the AI boom. 447 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:41,920 Speaker 2: One that nobody's talking about the White House breast breathing, 448 00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:46,240 Speaker 2: but every chip fab engineer in Taiwan, South Korea, and 449 00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:50,640 Speaker 2: quite frankly in Arizona is watching with white knuckles. We 450 00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:51,960 Speaker 2: ought to be paying attention to