Modern World Life Hacks Summer Storm-Podcast 677

I think it is fair to say we’re living in a completely different time than just a few years ago. Messaging, alerts, constant interruptions. People complain they’re working twenty four hours a day because they have to be available around the clock. In Modern World Life Hacks Summer Storm-Podcast 677 I share my hacks to stay sane. What are yours?

Maintaining Composure

Especially relevant is the need to stay in a positive state of mind. This can be difficult when you’re responding to text messages, emails, clients or bosses at three in the morning. Content creators and creative people can find the need to stay connected constantly the most difficult.

Enjoying A Summer Storm

My contribution to your peace of mind? Sitting on the porch during a summer storm. What about the things that interest me. Excite me. Keep me in a positive, productive and creative state of mind? Hopefully my list will spur you to think up your own list. Things that really keep us going. In Modern World Life Hacks Summer Storm-Podcast 677.

Nobody Ever Said It Would Be Easy

Life is not easy. Turns and shifts happen without warning. Sometimes these changes are welcome. Sometimes not. People leave. Jobs end. Companies are sold. Plans shift. There are times when the changes are good. Finally, shifts and changes that are later looked upon as a ‘blessing’.

My Hacks

Travel is a big hack. A great way to shift my thinking. I don’t even care where I go anymore. Just going is half the battle. Especially road trips. Going to exotic far away places is also good. There are times though, when all you can manage is a weekend getaway.

The famous Bob Davis News Cleanse changed my life. It brought the realization that I did not need to maintain a twenty four hour news watch and freed me to create content outside of the confines of ‘the news’. Reading, walking, sitting quietly, or doing anything that shifts your thinking even short term are great for hacking the madness that is modern life.

The Old World Is Never Coming Back

In conclusion, we live in a great age. As we modernize we live among the trappings of an old world. Some of the old things are still around, but the pace of life will never go back to what it was. There are new pressures. New ideas. While we adjust to these new approaches its important to maintain our balance.

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Modern World Life Hacks Summer Storm-Podcast 677

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When Tax Reform Isn’t-What Congress Giveth It Taketh Away-Podcast 676

They call it Tax Reform. A Jobs Bill. That’s what it must be, right? Journalists and commentators are playing the same old game. Argue a proposed piece of legislation on its merits. Time to reset the boundaries in When Tax Reform Isn’t-What Congress Giveth It Taketh Away-Podcast 676.

Freedom Of Choice

While listeners to The Bob Davis Podcasts always have the freedom to choose what they think is right, I want to introduce the concept of marginal improvement. Legislators on both sides of the political spectrum talk big about ‘reform’. Usually though they make what really are marginal changes. This is especially relevant when we’re talking about the tax code.

The Real Football Game Is Congress

Team Red moves the ball back to the Blue thirty yard line. It’s hailed as a great victory. Team Blue moves the ball back to the Red twenty yard line a few years later. These are what both sides call marginal improvements. Meanwhile, as economist Milton Friedman famously suggested, they keep getting elected by making the tax code more complicated.

Budget Neutrality Isn’t A Thing

Enter a legislative concept called Budget Neutrality. The idea every expenditure must be ‘paid for’ with tax increases, or budget cuts. You think Tax Reform means lower taxes. What they’re really doing is taking away tax deductions and loop holes, and increasing our overall tax. The sad part is, it’s not their money, it’s our money. In When Tax Reform Isn’t-What Congress Giveth It Taketh Away-Podcast 676.

What Is Real Reform?

If you want real reform. The end to this kind of corruption? Then the power of the federal government to tax our incomes and our property must be permanently eliminated. Should corporations be taxed at all? Do you have property rights if you pay property taxes? How does government pay for the wonderful things both sides wants it to provide? We talk about it in When Tax Reform Isn’t-What Congress Giveth It Taketh Away-Podcast 676.

Already Socialists

So called conservatives like to argue the merits of capitalism versus socialism. It seems like I’d be on pretty safe ground if I suggested the United States has been collectivist for decades. Our economic system is not so much capitalist as it is a controlled market economy. Our elected Kings and their privy courts control our behavior and our futures with regulation and a tax code so complex, were it to be proposed as a single law in its present form, it would cause a revolution.

(Editor’s Note: While the first actual income tax in the United States was levied during the Civil War, it was later repealed as ‘unconstitutional’. Several attempts were made to establish an income tax through the late 1800’s which were unsuccessful, until the 16th amendment, ratified in 1913.)

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When Tax Reform Isn’t-What Congress Giveth It Taketh Away-Podcast 676

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Ozark The Deuce Stranger Things Golden TV age Snark-Podcast 675

Streaming. Binging. Brand new shows. Hundreds of new offerings on networks that didn’t exist ten years ago. Critics have suddenly discovered streaming television and there is much they do not like. In Ozark The Deuce Stranger Things Golden TV age Snark-Podcast 675.

No Commercials

I cut the cable years ago. Never watch broadcast TV. Despite this, I watch a lot of TV. I have my favorite shows. Shows I binge watch over a week, or weekend. Especially relevant is the fact that we all have our favorites. Whether it’s a weekend of Stranger Things or Ozark on Netflix, or waiting for each installment of the new HBO Show The Deuce, we’re watching serialized TV offerings like long movies.

Peak TV

While the technical infrastructure has existed for awhile, more people are streaming shows. It’s what the experts call ‘peak tv‘. No one wants to be left out, including the critics. In Ozark The Deuce Stranger Things Golden TV age Snark-Podcast 675.

You’ve Got Critics

A few years ago the critics hailed these new offerings as ‘groundbreaking’. Suddenly new shows can’t get a break. Bad acting. Silly plot lines. Critics are desperate to remain relevant, I guess. What they forget is, it’s just Television.

Watch It All At Once and Move On

Television has always been disposable. So have all popular forms of entertainment. Sure, there are world changing plays, movies, songs, radio and television shows. For the most part though, we forget. Do you remember all two hundred plus Miami Vice installments? Were they all great?

Content Creators Don’t Change The World With Every Offering

New media platforms can take as much content as creators can manage. People watch and discard almost as soon as it is produced. We’re in the early stages of an entirely new form of entertainment delivery systems. Creators are still learning the ropes. Is it fair to compare a show with 13 hour long installments in a year, although it’s written, shot and produced like a movie, with a full budget hollywood movie? Do the viewers care that some critic doesn’t think an actor is good enough to do Shakespeare on Broadway?

Binge Weekend

I love my new shows, and I binge watch the old ones all the time. WestWorld. The Deuce. Ozark. House of Cards. Ray Donovan. Boardwalk Empire. Curb Your Enthusiasm. I don’t need to be studying film and literature to enjoy them. In the final analysis, the rest of the viewers don’t either.

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Ozark The Deuce Stranger Things Golden TV age Snark-Podcast 675

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