Season 10, Episode Eleven January 26, 2025

SPEAKER_02 0:03

This is the listening tube.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Well, hello. Thank you for putting your ear to the listening tube. I'm your host, Bob Woodley. Pardon me. Or not, maybe the next guy will. On this episode, we'll hear about how big snowflakes can get, the Coast Guard, and telegrams. Plus, I'll talk to a man who says that if you own a house, you own an estate.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

But first, not the headlines.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

As I went over in last week's episode, my primary purpose for creating the listening tube was to bring attention to how the news media had changed and migrated from its responsibility to inform. It had and continues to be something other than what news media is meant to be. Right on cue, two news organizations have been sued as the result of their reporting. CNN, once the standard bearer of responsible and accurate news and the creator of the 24-hour news cycle, has just settled a $5 million lawsuit for ruining the business and reputation of a man who was helping people escape Afghanistan after the botched withdrawal early in the Biden administration. The final settlement may be much higher, according to a story from NPR. CNN accused this Navy veteran of charging exorbitant fees to aid in the client's extraction from Afghanistan, calling it a black market operation that guaranteed neither safety nor success. CNN said they remain proud of our journalists and are 100% committed to strong, fearless, and fair-minded reporting at CNN, though we will, of course, take what useful lessons we can learn from this case. The jury found CNN liable for two definitions of defamation, per se, meaning the harm was done by the words CNN chose when reporting the story, and by implication, describing what a reader of the story might assume from the way the report was done. Two people atop the editorial chain of command at CNN testified at the trial that they approved a story that was, according to one, three-quarters true, and according to the other, was 80% emotion, adding that he was more interested in the story than the reporting. Did the guy make a profit for the work he was doing? Well, yeah, that's the American way. It's not like he was scalping tickets out of the country. He was doing the work. He should be paid for his efforts and the service he provides. But CNN made him out to be some kind of pirate to be avoided on the road to freedom from the Taliban. The jury in this case has sent a message to other media to be more careful about what you claim is happening and telling people something that's going to harm an individual's livelihood and reputation. That's what CNN has been doing for quite some time now, but this time it was a private citizen and not a politician. Apparently, you can get away with telling lies about politicians, but not private citizens. Another left-wing news company has been hit with another defamation lawsuit. An April trial is scheduled for a claim that MSNBC defamed a doctor by calling him a uterus collector for performing unnecessary hysterectomies. The doctor is an obstetrician gynecologist who worked at a detention center run by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, commonly referred to as ICE. That's the federal department responsible for keeping people and things out of the country that don't belong here. The doctor was accused by a whistleblower for performing the unneeded operations. Without really knowing what actually happened, MSNBC told the story multiple times on different programs about the evil doctor doing unthinkable things to immigrant women, perpetuating a claim that women at the detention center were frightened of him and his abusive demeanor, every time referring to him as the uterus collector. They even showed a photograph of the doctor, but claimed that since he's not a public figure, nobody would have known it was him they were talking about. As the CNN story shows, it's not the public figure you need to worry about. It's the private citizen, like the doctor in this story. But the doctor in this story worked at an ICE detention facility during the Trump administration in 2020, when every left-leaning so-called news program was looking for a way to criticize anything even remotely related to Trump immigration policy. So MSNBC latched on to this story and were going to milk it for all they could. But they forgot to ask one very important question before they accused the doctor of performing unnecessary hysterectomies. How many did he do? Well, they did ask the question, but only of one of the lawyers claiming to be familiar with the practice. He said there were as many as fifteen full or partial hysterectomies without a medical need for one. MSNBC asserts that many of them were done without consent of the woman by the uterus collector. Rather than taking the word of a lawyer, MSNBC didn't confirm the report with the actual detention center records, which I'm sure would have been available through a Freedom of Information Act request. If they had, they would have discovered that the doctor in question, the one they call the uterus collector, had performed only two such procedures, and both of them with full consent of the patient once it was explained to them why it was medically necessary. The United States Senate investigated the whistleblower complaint and could not conclude that the accusations were true. We'll see if this lawsuit even makes it to trial in April. It seems to me that MSNBC is gonna get hung out to dry if they let this go to trial. But it's just two examples of the recent reasons why the American public has less trust in the news than ever before. We count on the news channels to have good sources and double check to make sure what they're telling us is correct. Because we want to know that when we tell somebody what we heard on the news, that we're not telling somebody something that isn't true. We have to trust our sources, which is primarily the news channels. But we can't trust if they're good sources of news anymore. Remember the old saying, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Don't be like second-rate news media. Double check your sources before you spread the word. Or at least remember to cite your source so that you can't be held responsible for the contents of the story. This week in 1521, the date of worms begins, lasting until May 25th. If you speak English, you'd pronounce it worms, but in German, it's Worms. Anyway, this was basically the time and place where Protestantism began. The split between the Roman Catholic Church and the rest of the Christian religions. I had no idea it was such an historic place when I was sent there to cover United States Army maneuvers for Armed Forces television in Europe in 1985. I got to see soldiers practice firing wire-guided tow missiles, tanks fire phosphorus bombs at distant targets, and hang out in the enlisted club there. I also got to interview a general. But the best part was that I got to fly in a general's learjet from West Berlin to Frankfurt on the first leg of my journey to Vorms. Once we got to Frankfurt, the general and his staff took a helicopter the rest of the way. My videographer, Eugene and I had to take a bus. Yes, a whole bus driven by an army guy, for just the two of us, the rest of the way from Frankfurt to Vorms. I sat on the steps with the doors open and smoked a cigarette while we drove down the Audubon. That's how it was during the Cold War.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

The eighteen hundreds.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

After being there since the Spanish American War. Guantanamo's been used as a prison complex in recent years. Joe Biden tried his best to empty it out before he left, but there are still a few prisoners there. In reality, Guantanamo Bay is to the Communists as West Berlin was. I don't see a reason for the U.S. to let it go. This week in 1915, an act of the U.S. Congress creates the United States Coast Guard. The new president wasted no time in relieving the commander of the Coast Guard of her duties just this week. In case you missed it, President Trump fired the first female chief of the Coast Guard within days of his inauguration. Admiral Linda Fagin was let go by the acting Secretary of Homeland Security for leadership deficiencies, operational failures, and an inability to advance the strategic objectives of the Coast Guard, according to a story by Landon Meon for Fox News. More specifically, she was responsible for allowing illegal immigration and not intercepting fentanyl and other illegal substances from entering the country. She also failed in recruitment goals and retention. The new president brought up some of these failures last time he was president, and nothing had been done while Joe was in charge. Plus, the Admiral spent resources on DEI programs that didn't add any effectiveness to the mission of the Coast Guard. After 110 years of the same Coast to Guard, you'd think they'd have it down to a science by now. Apparently they don't. This week in 1977, the first day of the Great Lakes blizzard of 77, which severely affects and cripples much of upstate New York. But Buffalo, Syracuse, New York, Watertown, New York, and surrounding areas are most affected, each area accumulating close to ten feet of snow on one day. Climate change you get it. This week in 1981, Ronald Reagan lifts remaining domestic petroleum price and allocation controls in the United States, helping to end the 1979 energy crisis and begin the 1980s oil glut. Well, perhaps the parallels of the Reagan years and the new Trump administration have more in common than we thought. While there are no price controls in place today, the United States is poised to increase energy production to as high a level as possible, likely creating another energy glut. But this energy glut might also be the key to ending the war in Ukraine. This week in 2006, Western Union discontinues its telegram and commercial messaging services. Ironically, they made the announcement via email. Just kidding. But I'm sure I didn't get a telegram about it. I only ever got one telegram in my life, and it was 20 years before the service was suspended. I still have it in a box somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 13:41

Contact the listening tube by calling 570-601-1101 or email thelistening tube at outlook.com.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

My guest this week created a website called estatedocprep.com. It's a platform to help you create an estate plan that could save you thousands of dollars down the road and provide peace of mind along the way. His name is Oscar Vasquez, and he spoke to me from his home near the fire-ravaged area of Southern California.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

We've had a rough 15 days in Southern California. High winds, no electricity, no power, over 10,000 homes.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

This is our third attempt at this uh conversation today. So among the several Los Angeles area fires, which one uh is most affecting you?

SPEAKER_01 14:47

Um well what's affecting us is in in our area is that we're in the the high winds because according to how the fire started, a transformer blew out and it started the fire. So what affected us, what's affecting us, we're 20 minutes from the fire. We're on the other we're the we're two hills away from the fire, there's no power because they like we can be talking right now and they'll just shut off the power if the winds hit over 60, and everything we do now virtually is with the power. Wow, and yeah, so it's I mean, and even you know, we went out um about four days ago, went out to look for generators, and the generators that were that were six hundred dollars are now eighteen hundred. And and and then that's if you could find one.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

I certainly sympathize with you. I'm I've lived in Southern California a long time ago. I'm very familiar with the Santa Ana winds and oh exactly.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

That's what they are. When I say Santa Ana winds, many people go like, what does that mean? I'm like, high winds.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

High dry winds. High dry winds literally suck the moisture out of everything in their path. What part of um SoCal did you live in? I lived in Port Waineme in Ben Truth. Oh god, that's I I live in the city of Fillmore.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

Okay. Yeah, so it's just north of the Pacific. So you know, two three months ago, we had a fire in Santa Paula, Moore Park, and Piru all going at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Wow. And it was all because of the winds. Yep, I believe it. And the one of the reasons I thought it would be interesting to speak with you is because at the beginning of the year, people always kind of try to re-evaluate themselves and they'll they'll make New Year's resolutions, and those resolutions often have to do with things like exercise or alcohol consumption, but they also often have things to do with resetting and re-examining your financial situation. Do you find that uh happens more often at the beginning of the year?

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Yeah, we do. We've we've had that. Um, we see that a lot with a lot of our customers. They're always they're always, hey, this coming year, or when we do a lot of follow-up calls um in December, we see a lot of people in the um start saying, Hey, after the first of the year, I want to make some changes. And we talked about this and we talked about that, but you know what? I really want to get some stuff in order for the kids. Um, and that's one of the things that we always call it, you know, put it on if it's on your to-do list for for 2025. And that's a conversation we have. You know, um estate planning is one of several things that I do, but we spent we've been in the real estate industry for 28 years. So we've had several customers that are in there. So that's one of the and we we started to do it, and then so we just give you a little background story, and then we came back with the software, and now we we um invested in ha being able to have nationwide access to the provisions of the legal provisions for every state to get recognized to be able to do state planning in every state.

SPEAKER_00 18:13

So were there a lot of uh hoops to jump through to get that accomplished?

SPEAKER_01 18:18

Colorado was probably Colorado and uh Califor uh well California that's the one that we normally practice is and Florida were probably the uh and New York were were probably the the biggest hoops because they have a lot of a lot of provisions. Uh a lot of state specific provisions that are in there. And and every state with the biggest provision that they have in the state is the declaration of the mount the minimum value that you have to have in order to avoid probate or or to go to probate. So that's the biggest provision that most states have. All of them have it. Hey, I hereby leave it too, and then the relationship. A lot of them have it, but um in some in some they say my kids or my son or my children, they want the word children in versus sons or daughters, right? Individuals, and some want their like California wants their gender, wants to know if it's uh if it's how they were born. Go figure. I mean it's just I mean it's like okay, but whatever, right? I mean it's it's it's a provision that the law now requires, and that's the world that we live in today, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

So California wants to know the gender of the person at birth. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Yeah, California is one of the one of the states that says gender is fluid and and well yeah, they haven't updated their they haven't updated their state laws yet.

unknown 20:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

Which is kind of contradicting, right? Because they they're the ones we're the state that started that you hey you can tell your child if they feel this way, they can be that, right? They want to be a they want to be a 35-year-old male um and sit at the bar and have a beer, they can. I'm just kidding. But I mean you know, he feel if they feel that way, then then that's where they are. But I don't know. But that those those are some of the uh most of the provisions um and also the language of the estate. It's you know, I don't know them all, but we hired estate planning attorneys to write the provisions and make sure that they were correct for each state. And then what happens is when when you do that, the software recognizes the state and then it automatically converts that provision into that state.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

Very interesting. Well we'll talk a little more about that uh website a little bit later, but is there a other than the the property being involved, is there a big difference between an estate planner and a financial planner?

SPEAKER_01 21:08

Yes. Well most of the people that do estate planning, the the estate plan should be the foundation of your financial plan because you you should protect everything you accumulate. And as financial planners, we we always try to first we try to one is accumulate and then grow and then protect, but in our aspect, we always say we want to protect. We want to first set up the protection and then accumulate and then grow. Right? So so is it the the biggest I think that every estate planner, the first thing that they should recommend is an every financial planner should recommend a estate plan first. Um because you have to protect it. I mean, you know, if you don't have You know, the first thing when you're building a one of the things that you build um when you're building a found um a home is building a foundation so you know you don't go through the floor. So I I think that's a the pillar of it. So I would say they're probably should they're probably one of the same, except they have two different professions. Estate planning is usually done by a lawyer because it's it's has legal terms and contracts. What they don't what most people don't understand is that it's the same contract for everybody. The only thing that is customized is your instructions on what you want to have happen, right? That's what cust is customized, and when you can put those in, so every every every estate plan has to have certain provisions so the courts understand that you're taking this action according to what law. And so every state has a provision that says under this is our statute in our state that that prevents you from going to from probate.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

Okay. That's interesting. Now, yeah, how far back does estate planning go? I know you know it can't go back to the Greeks and Romans because people really weren't allowed to own property up until a certain time in history. But now, as far as like in America, has estate planning, does estate planning have a uh a very long history, or is it a relatively new?

SPEAKER_01 23:38

I don't I don't know, you know, that's a good question. I I don't know that when it actually started, but I know that in the 1970s, um, it was it was a it was a very popular thing to use wills um until state until probate got really expensive because the courts I I know probate got involved, I know probate was created so that way the the government can protect the citizens of the land and their beneficiaries from making sure that the people that you love or that you intended to love or that you loved and and you intended to give them your assets when you pass, um they that's why they got involved. And then then it became an expensive court proceeding, and then they put caps on fees, and then so the attorneys now charge the cap. They don't charge the minimum, everybody charges the same the most to do an estate plan. I mean to go to probate, so I don't know how the when the history came about, but that is something that I'm gonna write down because that is a great question.

SPEAKER_00 24:57

Um well, as far as I know, Oscar Vasquez invented uh right. Yeah. Uh started. So how how long, Mr. Vasquez, have you been an estate planner?

SPEAKER_01 25:13

Um, I've been I've been working with estate plans probably for the last four or five years. Um, but I've been involved in estate planning ever since I started to become a listing specialist, working with sellers on to be able to represent them to sell their home. And what usually would happen is they would come and say, hey, mom, mom died, but now we we want to sell the house. And we'd say, okay, great, I just need to get a copy of the Living Trust to make sure that you can execute the documents to sell it. And they would say, Well, what's that? We don't have that. And then we'll say, Okay, great, now we got to get you to an approbate attorney. And the attorney would say, Okay, uh, it's gonna cost, you know, back then it was it was $10,000 to do it. And they're like, we don't have $10,000. You say, No problem, you can just pay me when you sell the house, and we'll go to the court. And that's where where we'd all started. And I got into estate planning when attorneys started to get so backlogged on creating living trust that it would take 45 to 60 to 90 days to create them. And after understanding what is a living trust, right? That was the first thing that that was an aha moment for me after understanding what a living trust was. And the definition, a true definition of a living trust is a legal contract between you, which is the grantor, which is aka also known as you the parents, and the and the beneficiaries were usually the kids that the courts help to enforce. So if you understand that it's a contract between you and your kids on what you want to have happen with your body, what you want to have happen when you get sick, what you want to have happen with your money, and what how you want the proceeds or how you want your assets distributed amongst them. So they create peace of mind, and more importantly, it can create a legacy if you so choose to, if there's enough to trickle down to different generations.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

Well, what kind of wealth do you need to have in order to require a financial planner or create a living trust?

SPEAKER_01 27:34

That is probably one of the biggest misconceptions of who needs a living trust. And the biggest biggest misconception is do you have to be wealthy? Is there a minimum requirement? Every state has a minimum. Let me go one step back on to that question because if you go back and you look at the question, if you go back and you look at why most people buy get or create a estate plan, is because they want to avoid probate. And probate is the big awful word because once you understand what happens in probate, you want to avoid it. And what it does, and and so the the minimum asset is the minimum requirement is based on the city, on the on the state. Sorry, each state. Give you an example. Utah requires if you have assets exceeding $100,000, the court gets involved, which means you got to go to probate, which means probate means that the court decides on what happens to your assets. That's what probate means. That you're okay, them deciding. You don't have an estate plan. You have two choices. One, be okay with the court deciding on what happens to your assets, and in Colorado, it's 100,000. In California, it's 184, 184K, and in color in Utah, it's 100, California is 184, and Colorado 60,000. So that means if your assets exceed the minimum assets required to go to probate, what happens is, and here's how you find out. Google it. Google, what's the minimum amount that I need so I don't go to probate in my state? And and Google will tell you, because what it does, it'll find it and somebody would have published it. More importantly, the process of probate, and so the minimum requirement is uh is based on the city on the state. But probate to prevent it, so that's the number one reason to prevent it. And I'm gonna go into California. The minimum now, everybody that has a home in every state of the land should put it on their to-do list for 2025, because almost every piece of real estate in the state exceeds the cost of the minimum amount of going to probate. So if you own a home, you should need to have pro you need to avoid probate, you need a living trust. And it's the only mechanism or the only tool that we have in the land to prevent us from getting the the government involved and to deciding on what we have, right? And then we'll go over assets. So once once you do that, so that's the number one reason. The second reason to avoid probate is I want to let you know that your beneficiaries won't get the assets or the money for six to twelve months after the court decides what happens to your things because they still wait. What happens is they publish you, they publish your name, they publish your asset, and they say, This guy has passed. If they owe you money, come forward, and they publish it in the paper. Because that's that law is that old that there still was newspapers back then. They say they gotta publish you so everybody knew that you died, and if you owed you money, come forward, or if you're a long-lost relative, come forward. That's a big mixed conception that you have to have lots of money, it's only for the rich. If you are a homeowner, that is an asset. Now, retirement accounts. If you have a long-term retirement account um that exceeds that dollar amount, you should get a you instead of it getting um just as a beneficiary, you should also put that into your estate because into your estate plan, because a living trust is such a strong document, um that the limitations of your instructions are what's in between what's in it's up to your imagination on your instruction. For example, I seen another I've seen another um person that we created a living trust was that she was very, very creative. I thought it was creativeness, but it was it was determination to keep her son sober. He was a recovering drug addict, and one of the things that she put in the Living Trust was that the that the monies from her retirement and the houses, if they sold, were to go into trust and they were to stay there, and he were to get monthly distributions as long as he maintained a clean urine and blood test, free and clear of alcohol and drugs. And he got distribution, and I was like, wow, that was in debt. And she said, you know, he's gonna be sober, he's gonna hear me when I'm alive every day, and he's gonna hear me when I'm dead. So he is not, he is gonna stay sober, or he's just gonna have to find his own way.

SPEAKER_00 33:05

So, what I'm gathering here is that the the living trust is the foundation of a good estate plan. That is correct. Now it sounds like there are a lot of hidden twists and turns in creating a financial plan or an estate plan. And you had already said that you know there are misconceptions about it. Are there are there some other misconceptions that you think people should be aware of when uh when looking for this type of uh assistance?

SPEAKER_01 33:41

Yeah, I think the the the first uh I think the mid big one number one misconception is that you have to be wealthy. Two, the biggest, um, and I think even above that, the biggest misconception is that they feel that a will is an estate plan. A will basically is a two-page document, and most in some cases, some cases it's a one-page document that says, I love you and I leave you everything. That's basically what it says. And you know what, I leave you everything to my two children equally. And and but and in every state of the land, a will is basically I love, I love you, will, I leave you everything, but it's basically the instructions that that the courts take into consideration when you go to probate. So a will does not prevent probate. That means in California, if you only have a will and you own a house, you will still have to pay the $26,000 to go to probate, which is the minimum fees now, just in probate. So if that's probably a huge misconception. Now, every state of the land has a minimum fees or the fees that they charge when you go to probate if you don't have it. So that's probably one. And now versus a living trust, a living trust prevents you from going to probate. That means if you have a will, that means only have a will, that means you're okay allowing the courts to decide on what happens to your assets and your young children, because the court will have to decide at that point.

SPEAKER_00 35:23

So obviously there are some misconceptions, there are mistakes also that people make when creating uh a living trust as part of their estate plan. So is there an easy way to get a plan without having to spend a lot of money?

SPEAKER_01 35:41

Oh, absolutely. So the the first thing is you need to get a comprehensive living trust, and a comprehensive living trust is what we offer at estate.docprep.com. And one of the things that we that's what it's the easiest way because you do it in the comfort of your home, and we have what's called a state plan coordinators that walk you through the process. We don't give you legal advice, we tell you, we tell you what other people have done and how that mechanism or that provision works. And so then the conversation starts based off of other people's experiences and what other people have done and how we share on how it be you can create a comprehensive living trust. So one, once you, once you become a client, um you get a done with you, not done for you, because an attorney is it's done for you. And this is a done with you project where we work with you to be able to get create an a comprehensive living trust and for you. So it's state doc prep has a comprehensive living trust that is available for you. So it's a state doc prep. That is correct. I'll get you all we yeah, docum. And then we also have a a coupon code that or a discount code for any one of the listeners that that are gonna be here, it's gonna be called listening tube, would be in their discount code. So anybody that goes to our website, estate docprep, and they have a list, a discount code, the first 10 customers get a discount of $1,000. So that means right now, if you go to the website, it's $24.97. But if you're listening to this podcast, you write and you use listening tube and you use that at checkout, your checkout will be $14.95. And here's what you get for the $14.95. You get unlimited updates. Unlimited updates means that there's restatements in the court. If you can't make a change to a living trust because it's a legal document, what happens is you have to do what's called a restatement that gets piled on top of the other one. And this is how attorneys create recurring income because every time you need a restatement, it's another $1,200 to $1,800. With our software, you eliminate that. So if you're young, and I say young because the younger we are, more things change, right? In our lifetime, because we have more life, and then we also have a gift of a free comprehensive guide. Now, these are all the questions that are in a comprehensive living trust. It's 31 pages, it's a free download, and it's estate dot prep forward slash guide. It's a free download. Those are all the questions that you need to prepare for to create a estate plan. Now, there's a lot of questions in there because and the reason why I created it is because if you make all the decisions from start to finish, you can get your estate plan completed in 45 minutes to an hour. And then the third, the third thing that I love to give you is I'd love to give you a phone number to our 24-hour estate.prep artificial intelligence information line. This is you actually have a verbal conversation with them, and it's 805-909-4689. That's 805-909-4689. That is a artificial intelligence. She's there to answer any questions. She's going to ask you your name, what state you're in, and then you can ask her any questions, and she'll tell you about estate planning in your area, or if estate planning works for you according to your situation. And if you have a unique situation, she'll talk to you. At the end of the call, she'll ask you two questions. One, would you like to talk to a human, which will probably be me or one of our uh estate coordinators? Or two, would you like to schedule an appointment? And that's it. And there's no pressure, no sales. It's there to give information and education so that way your listeners can benefit off of being able to have a consultation with no additional fees.

SPEAKER_00 40:17

Well, Mr. Vasquez, our conversation I think has been fascinating. I have certainly found it that way. But before I run out of time, I just want to say thank you very much for uh spending some time in the listening tube today. And I also want to wish you the best of luck with uh the fire situation uh near where you live. And I I hope that uh you're able to escape that uh unscathed.

SPEAKER_01 40:41

Well, thank thank thank you for that, and Bob, thank you for having me. And I hope I brought enough value for everybody, and I can only tell you and leave you with this thought. To protect your family, yesterday's too late because it's gone and it'll never come. Tomorrow is not promised, so today is the best day to take action and do something. So I would recommend that if you own a home and you want to prevent probate, you go to the website, get some information, and get educated and avoid it.

SPEAKER_00 41:13

That website again is estatedocprep.com. Go check it out if you're a homeowner and see how it could benefit you and the next generation of your family. Remember, if you mention the discount code listening to, you get a hefty discount. Thanks again to Oscar Fast for spending time listening to the people.