Polis: Colorado's education win, drug-price gap and why the AI bubble won't kill AI

Key points

Key takeaways from a The Bear Roars interview with Colorado Governor Jared Polis, hosted by Dan Caruso (September 2026):

Proudest win in office. Colorado went from 27th in the US for preschool enrolment to 3rd — and #1 in the nation for education overall — funded by a ballot measure that passed with more than two-thirds of the vote in Republican and Democratic counties alike.

Drug-pricing gap. Americans pay two to four times what France or Japan pays for the identical drug; closing even half that gap would take about 8% off every employer's healthcare premiums.

Housing is a supply problem. Polis frames the affordability crisis as a supply issue, arguing a generation loses something real when the $300,000 starter home no longer exists.

Colorado's innovation gap. Pressed on why people leaving California still pick somewhere other than Colorado, Polis distinguishes two problems: investors can love a Colorado founder and still not want to put money into Colorado — and the state has been better at the first than the second.

Quantum and aerospace. The conversation covers Colorado's strengths in quantum and aerospace, and what the state is leaving on the table as it competes to be the world's best innovation ecosystem.

AI bubble, not AI. Polis argues the AI bubble will burst without taking AI down with it — a correction in capital rather than in the technology itself.

Recharging. He also discusses a three-month sabbatical spent saying no to everything, and finally enjoying a Sundance without his phone going off.

Transcript unavailable — summary based on title and description only.

Read more: The Bear Roars · colorado.gov/governor