Green Energy Agenda Enriches China While Property Taxes Squeeze Coloradans

On this August 29, 2023 broadcast, Kim Monson examines how America’s green energy policies enrich China while everyday Coloradans struggle with rising property taxes. Daniel Turner of Power the Future exposes the hidden costs of the Inflation Reduction Act, while realtor Karen Levine and mortgage expert Lorne Levy offer strategies for navigating the challenging housing market. The Green Agenda’s China Problem Start listening at 33:27 – Hour 1 Daniel Turner, founder of Power the Future, exposes how environmental policies have become a massive giveaway to America’s chief geopolitical rival. Turner explains that China manufactures 70% of wind turbines, solar panels, batteries, and electric vehicles, while controlling 90-95% of the raw materials markets needed for these products. The problem extends beyond manufacturing. Even when materials originate in places like Chile or the Congo, Chinese companies own and operate most of the mines. Turner notes the Biden administration has blocked domestic mining operations like Twin Metals in Minnesota and Pebble Mine in Alaska, forcing dependence on foreign sources in the name of climate policy. This creates what Turner calls a “vicious circle” where the government mandates products requiring rare earth materials but prohibits domestic extraction of those same materials. Turner points to Colorado as an example of how blue-state migration has transformed energy policy. A decade ago, the state had none of the “environmentalist lunatic regulations” now hampering its oil and gas industry, the very sector that drove Colorado’s growth from 2000 to 2010 as the fastest-growing state in America. When energy workers earning $120,000 to $150,000 annually lose their livelihoods, entire communities built around those jobs collapse. “Every time the president says we’re going to go green, we’re making these huge investments, we’re really just writing a huge check to China and buying this inferior foreign-made, usually slave labor-made product.” Daniel Turner, CEO and Founder, Power the Future Fighting Property Tax Increases Start listening at 61:47 – Hour 2 Karen Levine, award-winning REMAX Alliance realtor, addresses the property tax protests that have Coloradans up in arms. She explains that homeowners who received denials on their valuation protests can now appeal to the Board of Equalization, with Jefferson County’s deadline falling on September 15th. Levine cautions that current valuations reflect data from 18 months prior, at the peak of the real estate market. While homes may not be worth those amounts today, the relevant question is whether they were worth that during the study period. She warns homeowners with unpermitted finished basements to consider whether appearing before the Board might reveal improvements the county doesn’t know about, potentially increasing their tax burden. Both Levine and Lorne Levy express concern about Proposition HH, which purports to offer property tax relief but actually eliminates TABOR refunds permanently. As Levy observes, if they genuinely wanted to lower taxes, “they’d probably do it in a paragraph” rather than 48 pages of legislative text. “The burden always falls on to somebody else. And we are seeing that that burden continues to fall on the middle class, which deteriorates the middle class. And that’s what America had above all other nations was a strong middle class.” Karen Levine, REMAX Alliance Realtor Navigating Today’s Mortgage Market Start lis...