A story of the tortoise and the hare
Mayor Johnston and several Denver City Council Members are campaigning for a proposed new debt request arriving to the ballot November 4, 2025. They call this proposed debt, the “Vibrant Denver” bonds.
Their latest promotional nonsense for this new debt request has been to talk about, “Timing.” We get things quicker using debt, they say.
What is the timing for something that never happens at all? We fail to notice what we do not see. Many things around the City do not exist because we gave the money to the bank for debt service.
Better timing of things for the City was true the first time we borrowed money, after that we set our timing back because of the money we gave to the bank.
A teenager who goes to the mall and racks up a few credit cards will have better timing for 3-4 years, after that, for the rest of their life this person will be behind on timing compared to a person who does not rack up a few credit cards. As money is given to the bank this person quickly slips behind on the timing of things – every dollar given to the bank for debt service will never buy this person so much as a cup of coffee.
What is the timing for all the things around the City that never happened in the first place because we gave our budget money to the bank. We do not notice everything around the City that never materialized because our tax money was given for debt service – wasted money.
If we add up all the money paid to the banks for debt service and other financial overhead related to debt over the past 10 years – this amount is several billion dollars.
With several billion dollars we could have already completed every project listed on the “Vibrant Denver” bond’s Christmas in July list.
Our timing of things in Denver Colorado has been set back, forever, because of the billions of dollars already given to the banks for debt service over previous decades. Let’s talk about all the things we could have bought with 5-10 billion in cash to spend.
Considering that we buy a lot more things for the City when we do not use debt – this certainly helps with the timing – does it not?
Timing is NOT on the side of forever debt. Operating our City without debt and debt service will result in better overall timing of things for the City.
The sooner we break our governments’ addiction to debt, the sooner we can begin to reclaim overall better timing of things for the City. This will take a few years, but after that, the outcome will be more for the City – forever. And less wasted tax money – forever.
For every dollar of debt we pay twice as much, on average, in just 10-12 years. We spend twice as much tax money in just 10-12 years. Denver started 165 years ago, we shouldn’t operate anywhere near debt if we believe Denver will still be here 10 years out. The banks are playing the long game and our politicians are playing the short-sided nonsense game.
Forever debt or better overall timing of things for the City – it’s one or the other.
Government debt drains us over time. Rinse and repeat, borrow money, pay it back, borrow money, pay it back. Furthermore, more debt requires more financial staffing, more attorneys, more accountants, more insurance costs – more financial overhead of every sort. Most financial overhead is a waste of valuable money.
Government debt accelerates the wealth gap. Denver recorded 15,000 evictions last year and the actual number of evictions (without filing with the City) could be twice that number. We’re moving quickly towards a 2 class society – a number of rich families and the rest of us hanging on for dear life.
With forever debt we take money from those who work for a living and those who labor for a living and then we trickle it up to Chase bank and Goldman Sachs. No wonder we find it too difficult to get the bills paid.
Government debt is synonymous with austerity even though many are fooled by political and financial deception into thinking the opposite of this. A vibrant Denver requires less debt, not more. Debt begets debt.
Amanda Sandoval, Denver City Council President, you keep talking about the “Vibrant Denver” bonds being about “investing in the future.” Government debt is the exact opposite of paying it forward. Sandoval, you’re selling our future to the bank.
As they say on the steep mountain inclines coming back to Denver, “Don’t be Fooled.” The banks are not on our side, debt is not on our side.
Vote NO this November and we’ll begin the healing process for our City, for the People.
Mayor Johnston, you’re throwing away our tomorrow and the next day. There’s nothing vibrant about debt.
Vote NO more debt this November 4th, 2025
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