Corporate Fascist March Continues
Turning the thousands of Coloradans in to rent and metro district slaves is economic development, according to Colorado's "leaders."
Next year’s Colorado tourism brochure is going to be fire:
“Come for the mountains, stay for the shitty roads clogged with traffic, crumbling bridges, dysfunctional public transit, unaffordable rents (enabled by the local governments and the business interests whose boots they lick), abusive metro districts (enabled by the local governments and the business interests whose boots they lick), 2nd world electrical grid, 2nd world cell phone network and a budding antisemitism scene.”
Below is a (hypothetically artistic) depiction on what a typical voting session might look like in Colorado Senate or House when it comes to voting on policies which further enrich corporate interests:
(Video courtesy of Arirang News)
In order to enable the stripping of the last bits of profit from what’s left of Colorado’s potential, state and city corporate shills (aka, “elected representatives”) have doubled down on leaning in to the late stage capitalism.
Denver’s mayor has declared that he will solve Denver’s (largely, self-created) budget shortfall by… spending more money on pet projects there is no money for and that, largely, don’t actually benefit the communities that need the help the most. But… somebody is going to get paid.
One would guess that perhaps it is a bit more prudent to make investments in infrastructure, public transit (which is pretty much non-existent in most of Colorado) and economic development when there is a higher level of incoming revenue. Instead, during the “fatter” years, Denver has pissed that revenue away on… Well, who knows what. Nor can the Mayor & Co. show the receipts on what it was actually spent on, it seems.
Supreme Leader Polis, having huffed one too many of his own political farts, instead of addressing the structural reasons as to why Colorado has just hit a wall in the rate of its economic growth, has doubled down on lock-stepping with the corporate fascists by shoving through policies designed to further enrich those who now pretty much own vast swaths of the Colorado “representatives.”
But hey, we almost got a literal bridge to nowhere out of it as a cancellation prize. If you think about it, the bridge was rather beautifully symbolic of what’s happening all around Colorado.
A bridge that takes you nowhere. Kind of like the RTD. Kind of like Colorado’s crumbling infrastructure. Kind of like the 16th Str.. 16th? Whatever that excuse for a promenade is called these days. Kind of like the chicken coops, er, “luxury apartments” popping like shit-fed mushrooms all over, designed for one thing only – extracting money from those barely getting by as is. And, transferring that money to those who purchased that “representation.” Then, there is more than a zero chance of that piece of “architecture” going over budget and resulting in maintenance issues. Not unlike the DIA.
Supreme Leader Polis wasted no time in “veto[ing] a landmark ban on rent-setting algorithms”. Algorithms which up to now, have resulted in “Denver renters [paying] an extra $136 per month to landlords who used rent-setting algorithms.” You see, it’s all about “[r]educing market friction through legitimate means.”
CPR, which rarely does any real journalism related to the abuses by the corporate real estate interests in Colorado, finally relented and called it what it is - “Colorado’s corporate landlords could be to blame.” “The Bell Policy Center also cites data showing that corporate landlords now own almost a fifth of Colorado apartments, the third highest share in the country.” Now, why would the “progressive” “affordability” advocates, so many Colorado representatives claim themselves to be, allow this to happen?
Nor do those representatives, seem to understand (or refuses to admit, because, reasons, er, political campaign contributions) what budgeting or economic development is. When a tax break/rule changes for us, mere mortals, we have to adapt. When a grant is not received, we have to adapt. We have to strive for better employment and side-hassles to actually generate “revenue.” Then, if we luck out and score that better “revenue” we should be “investing” that windfall in to, say, house repairs. Or car repairs. Or other things which may carry us through leaner times.
Apparently, it’s not like that for the state. For years, some tried to ring alarms on Colorado’s inability to cut where it matters and spend where it matters, instead. Colorado could not answer as to why our education is still underfunded (and, why nobody can provide the breakdown per student of how much is spent on administration vs. the teachers and resources), why our roads are unmaintained (or just get people killed) and why are the developers allowed to build more and more while paying less and less toward the common good.
While large amounts of money were going to… Not the teachers, or the roads, or the public transit and, not even to police and first responders, it seems. Yes, it’s all TABOR’s fault. It is not the inability to cut administration and other expenses not benefiting more Coloradans, most of the time, or the inability to enforce some modicum of fairness of having those making profits on the backs of Coloradans to pay toward our parks, roads and other infrastructure they get to profit from. You know things, when taken care of, make the public more amicable to say, “yeah, maybe we should life those TABOR limits or get rid of them.”
It’s also “federal government’s fault”. Not the fault of Colorado’s “leaders” failing to drive actual economic development with a more equitable disribution across the state to help more of the communities rise. And, in turn, maybe just create more of that “revenue” at the state level without having to rely on the “revenue” from Big Daddy? Seeing how Colorado’s Common Clay of the New West loves to pretend to be so forward thinking and independent and stuff…
Speaking of DIA. It is kinda entertaining to hear the mayor of Denver talking about how he envisions the DIA going from 6th most visited to number one. While forgetting to mention the crumbling infrastructure, stagnating economic growth, and Denver having worked overtime to stimey the reasons to visit the Downtown and other areas. Before anyone chimes in - that would be compared to any average European city, boasting an actual functioning public transit system, any number of museums, food options seemingly on every corner and local governments at least pretending to to invest the city budgets in to the well-being of those who live in those cities.
The corporate fascists in Lakewood (aka, the city council, the planning department and the city manager’s office) are shoving through a zoning change which will be one of the last nails in the city’s economic implosion. Instead of you know, doing actual economic development. Which is hard. And is not as paved with brib… er, campaign contributions. To them, there is only the “housing solution”. Not more education opportunities. Not better infrastructure or public transit. Not better paying jobs. Just more housing, to lock more people in to rentals and metro district fees. And wasting taxpayer funds on pet projects that sound “progressive” while bringing the taxpayers no benefit. Based on “research” conveniently cherry-picked to support their agenda.
As with so many rolling disasters - this one was not a mystery and had a clear pattern to it - and now, all across the land that used to hold so much potential, the corporate fascists march to finish off any true potential that Colorado used to have for people of all means.
To put a bit more flair on their march, some of them never waste an opportunity to sprinkle a touch of thinly veiled antisemitism on their style of “inclusivity”. Mayor of Lakewood calls that “free speech.” In Boulder, they just throw bottles of flammable liquid on old ladies (to be fair, that guy was from Colorado Springs). While some on the Boulder council refuse to denounce such things. Free speech, and all.
Ok, ok, about 27 years too late, Colorado is going to be doing something about that crumbling, 2nd world electrical grid. Oh, wait, they are not. Because Colorado, long ago, sold out the interests of the people to Xcel. Now, Xcel will graciously upgrade that electric grid. And you will be paying for it, indefinitely. Of course, mayors all around Colorado support this, because now it gives them yet another thing to claim credit for, while not having to pay for it. Plus, another convinient dog-whistle as to why they flobbed on the whole economic development part up to now.
You see, while Colorado’s “leaders” have been busy proclaiming their inclusivity and the support for affordability, other places in the world buckled down and did the hard things, such as engineering, infrustructure development and, you know, science and shit.
“Ma, a renowned expert in Chinese technology and founder of the media company Tech Buzz China, took her team on the road to get a firsthand look at the country’s AI advancements. She told Fortune that while she isn’t an energy expert, she attended enough meetings and talked to enough insiders to come away with a conclusion that should send chills down the spine of Silicon Valley: in China, building enough power for data centers is no longer up for debate.”
Not to say that Colorado should be competing with China or anything, but on a smaller scale, maybe Colorado should take a hint or two about a need to concentrate on actual economic development, education and infrastructure. Instead of continuing to lick those certain business interest’s boots. What’s Colorado’s excuse for not enabling other types of development to lift up more people, instead of turning more people in rent and metro district slaves?
So, feel free to get another credit card, or a line of credit. Feel free to pay that next increase in your rent. Or realizing that even after you pay off the mortgage, you will keep paying the metro district fees. Or knowing that eventually your insurance might start to outstrip the taxes you pay on your property. Feel free to wallow in ever increasing anxiety setting in following the realization that you simply cannot afford to live. While listening to those who failed to do any actual economic development, whine about the “economy”. What you are feeling is not an accident - Colorado has been rated 33rd in opportunity and 43rd in financial stability.
Unfortunately, the federal government just gave them an excuse to deflect the blame, yet again. So, under the guise of “fighting that version of fascism” they can continue to push through their version of “affordability”, “inclusivity” and other political dog whistle top-cover words masking any number of policies which will ensure ever more expedient transfer of wealth from the thousands of Coloradans to the corporate interests.
2025-09-21 Update: It just gets better and better. Due to Denver (and Colorado) administration efforts, Denver is now in the bottom for household income growth (as, in, it’s now slightly negative):