Our politicians are busy promising new things for the City
Mayor Johnston and Denver City Council have several town hall meetings scheduled for March and April 2025, to talk about all the things they could buy with a proposed new debt request arriving to the ballot for Tuesday, November 4, 2025. They call this proposed new debt, the “Vibrant Denver” bonds.
Council Member, Chris Hinds, held the first of these meetings on Wednesday 3/12/25 – all to promote new debt for the City. These meetings are to ask the Citizens of the City for their Christmas list and to present these lists to Santa Claus.
Mayor Johnston shows up to the meeting to talk about all the things he could buy for the City, if only we could approve his new debt. And then he goes on to mention several things that have been “paid for by bonds” over the past several years.
When our politicians give credit to bonds for paying for things, they are doing two things. First, by not giving credit to the tax-payers, who pay for all things government, they are disrespecting the tax-payers. Secondly, they are giving the credit to the banks — bonds and banking are the same thing.
To give credit to bonds for paying for government programs is the same thing as giving credit to Chase bank for paying for government programs. Chase bank pays for NOTHING, they only take, that’s it, take, take, take. Chase bank reported $54 billion in profit last year, $54 billion.
Nothing is paid for by a credit card, a credit card is only a tool, everything is paid for by us, the consumer. Nothing is paid for by a bond, a bond is only a tool, everything is paid for by us, the tax-payer, every single penny.
Our politicians are giving credit to the very financial system that is destroying our ability to get the rent paid in the first place
When people ask, “what will we buy with the new bonds,” my reply is, “well, it doesn’t matter,” because whatever it is that we want to buy, we’ll buy twice as much, on average, when we do not use debt. The more important the thing we want to buy, the more important it is to NOT use debt so that we can buy twice as much.
My argument, my battle, is not about priorities, priorities are subjective. My argument is an objective argument. My argument is for our politicians to admit to basic math. My argument is that our politicians should admit to the high cost of government debt in terms of interest, fees, and other costs.
My argument, my battle, is that, sooner or later, our politicians will need to see that government debt is a counter-productive waste of valuable money.
If we take 10 dollars of City revenue (tax-payer money) and we give 5 dollars to Chase bank, we now have only 5 dollars remaining for City services. Government debt cuts our City revenue (tax-payer money) in half, on average.
Please keep in mind that our Chief Financial Officer for the City, Nicole Doheny, comes from Barclays Bank, owned by BlackRock and other financial predators. For the CFO of the City to promote debt for urban climbing walls and such, this is negligent malpractice on her part. We’ll build a lot more climbing wall, per tax dollar, when we do NOT use debt.
Nicole, it would be your job to advise the Mayor and City Council against giving so much City revenue (tax-payer money) to the bank. Nicole, you need to work for common good, not the banks’ interests – a difference between treasure and treason.
Every dollar given to Chase bank and all the other banks is the same thing as throwing that dollar into a trash can.
Mayor Johnston and his “no new taxes” lie
The on-going lie from Mayor Johnston and the Denver City Council about “no new taxes” as they ask for more debt is total nonsense for two reasons. First, it’s impossible to repay debt without twice as much City revenue (tax-payer money), on average. Secondly, the City of Denver raises taxes, on average, several times per year (and “fees” are taxes of course).
There’s a common misconception about government debt that either we accept more government debt or the taxpayers will need to foot the bill, as though debt would somehow lower tax bills. This widespread misconception is our primary problem to address in order to reduce government debt.
Mayor Johnston, you should stop pretending that you’re going to deliver gifts to the City that magically appear from the universe. If you’re 5 years old it’s ok to believe this nonsense. If you’re a grown adult, you need to check your reality, your math isn’t adding up.
These town hall meetings are based on political and financial deception. Zero actual service comes from every dollar of debt service.
A billion dollars would pay for about everything mentioned at the town-hall meeting with Council Member, Chris Hinds. The City of Denver, including the airport, gives well over one billion dollars per year to the banks for debt service. That’s well over $5 billion dollars in just 5 years.
Let’s talk about all things we could have bought over the past 5 years with $5 billion in cash to spend – twice as many parks, twice as many recreational centers, twice as much whatever it is that the politicians talk about.
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.
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
Sign-up for our Newsletter to stay in the loop. Our newsletter arrives twice per month.
Please email or call if you could volunteer to help distribute campaign material.
Please tell your friends about us, we need the support.
