Matt Randolph

Yeah.

And in that speech I was giving last year, we were talking about I live I'm in Oklahoma and we're a huge oil and gas state.

Oil and gas is our number one industry in Oklahoma.

And they're trying to figure out ways to bring more oil and gas companies to the state.

And, you know, I told them last year, like, yeah.

We've lost one-third of all the jobs in the oil and gas industry in Oklahoma in the last five years due to automation, efficiency, and AI.

So why are we putting so much energy into this industry when we're losing the jobs faster than we can get them?

Not that I'm anti-oil and gas.

Obviously, I'm not.

But people don't understand things like that.

you know, and it's our number one employer in the state of Oklahoma is oil and gas.

When you've lost a third of your jobs from the number one employing industry in your state, you have a serious problem.

And their answer to that is more oil and gas.

And I'm like, you will get more oil and gas, but you won't get any more jobs.

They're not getting that part, right?

And so you just got to

Lay it on the line with these people.

You just got to tell them how it is and be truthful about it.

Yeah, and of course it'll deliver more production taxes to the state, but it's not going to deliver more jobs.

And the income taxes and sales tax and average oil and gas job in Oklahoma probably starts at $120,000 a year.