Background
As a refresher, Beto came to the U.S. illegally in 2010 with his wife, Cynthia, and two children. He and his family crossed the border at Ciudad Juarez and settled in Pitkin County, Colorado near Aspen. He grew up on his grandfather’s ranch outside of Castanos, MX. As a result of his experience on his Abuelo’s ranch he was able to land a job as foreman on a ranch near Carbondale. The ranch belongs to a wealthy inventor from Chicago.
Beto has been gone for awhile attending his mother’s funeral and spending time with his grandfather in Mexico. Fortunately for Beto, Kevin Jensen, the ranch owner held his job for him while he was gone. Beto was able to supervise the round-up of cattle and get them to market before he left. Late fall and winter are slower times at the ranch and most of the ranch guests had already headed back East before round-up.
As you may remember once Beto arrived in Colorado he became aware of the extreme income disparity between Latinos and the ultra-wealthy that they served. Feeling that he might be able to create an awareness he began to attend Aspen City Council meetings to better understand the political system. At one of the meetings he met Andrea Worstley, a Johnson & Johnson heiress, who introduced Beto to other council members and local Aspen politics. Beto saw an opportunity to shine some light on the conditions of his fellow Lations. He ended up putting together a loosely formed organization called PAID, People Against Income Disparity. It wasn’t long before PAID became a known entity in Aspen. People Against Income Disparity could not have found a more lucrative home.
Aspen & The Institute
Unbeknown to Beto he had struck the motherload of virtue signaling when he landed in Aspen. Aspen, Colorado, represents one of the true power centers outside of Washington, D.C. Aspen was built by people who could afford to destroy a town and rebuild it. Granted Aspen is known for its world class skiing, but this pastime for the idle rich is merely a cover for the real business of Aspen. There is more wealth represented in Aspen per square mile than any other place in America. What about Telluride or Vail you might ask? Aspenites actually look at Telluride, Vail and Jackson Hole as stepchildren in the resort and political influence business. As it turned out timing is everything. Vail wasn’t built until 1962 and Telluride didn’t arrive as a ski area until the early 1990’s. Aspen, an old mining town originally named Independence, was firmly established as a playground for the rich by 1946 long before Vail or Telluride was on the drawing board. The airport, Shady Field, opened in 1946 with a gravel runway and provided easy access from Denver. It was on the map.
There is one thing that stands out about Aspen and puts it in a power class of its own, The Aspen Institute. The institute was established in 1950 as “The Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies”, an internationally known center for social engineering. Ever since 1950 the institute has been a focus for international politics. Annually world leaders and wealthy plutocrats attend the annual Aspen Institute’s World Economic Forum along with a full schedule of other progressive seminars. The institute is without a doubt the most significant liberal think tank in the world. If you try and access the “Events” page of the Institute’s website, here is the message you receive. “Your access to this site was blocked by Wordfence, a security provider, who protects sites from malicious activity. If you believe Wordfence should be allowing you access to this site, please let them know using the steps below so they can investigate why this is happening.” Pretty scary stuff.
The institute has locations in and near the shores of the Chesapeake Bay at the Wye River in Maryland. It has partner Aspen Institutes in Berlin, Rome, Madrid, Paris, Lyon, Tokyo, New Delhi, Prague, Bucharest, Mexico City, and Kiev, as well as leadership initiatives in the United States and on the African continent, India, and Central America. It is funded by wealthy organizations such as the Carnegie Corporation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Gates Foundation, the Lumina Foundation, and the Ford Foundation to name a few.
The Payoff
If you remember Beto discovered quickly that he needed to further his education so he began taking classes at Colorado Mountain College in Glenwood. Even though Beto had no idea what Critical Theory was, he quickly learned. Racism and oppression became key words in his advocacy efforts. A few years after Beto arrived in Aspen he approached the city & county leaders with the idea that a fund to help minorities with housing and education might be politically appealing. One of the things he suggested was that they might consider a wealth tax on the property owners of Pitkin County as a way of alleviating some of the disparities that minorities experienced. While there was initial pushback it did not take the politicians long to understand that labeling Aspen a racist and oppressive environment would be devastating. Both for the town and politically.
Initially Beto suggested a 25% tax on real and personal property and a stiff landing fee at Sardy Field. Sardy Field is one of the business small airports in the country. In one twelve-month period they are likely have over 43,000 aircraft operations, nearly 120 per day! This tax idea significantly disrupted real estate values and caused severe heartburn in the airplane business. Beto knew this was a radical proposal with little chance of gaining traction but it did get people’s attention. So the city council and county commissions granted Beto great latitude in promoting PAID. He became a part of the political scene. It didn’t take long for People Against Income Disparity to become a force. By 2019 PAID had received over $10 million in “donations”!
Next week – Beto expands the business