Podcast 515-Andrew Davis

Podcast 515-Andrew Davis. At the close of Father’s Day Weekend, a father and son podcast. From our adventures this weekend in talk radio, to late Sunday night recovering a lost iPhone, Andrew and Bob Davis talk about issues to get you current for the week ahead, the first official week of summer. This weekend we filled in for friends on the radio, and talked about our personal feelings that the establishment republicans will take one last run at Donald Trump at the RNC later this summer. Between a tough week last week for the New York Developer, to high negatives in recent polls, as well as reports of a (have to put this in quotes) “RICO civil lawsuit” on the Trump University matter, to his rhetorical and often controversial method of speaking, Trump is giving republicans fits. This weekend we talked about at least five or six republican seats that are vulnerable in this election. Those long term, powerful senators are very concerned about Trump’s high negatives and the potential that they could lose if he proves to be a weak presidential candidate, particularly in their states. An announcement this week that there’s an effort in effect to change the rules to allow delegates to ‘vote their conscience’, might gather steam if Trump continues have problems. This is why using terms like ‘presumptive’ is a bad idea when it comes to either of the front-running republican or democrat candidates. (Editor’s note: The only party that has actually settled on a ticket so far is the Libertarian Party which chose Gary Johnson as its presidential candidate and William Weld as its vice presidential candidate.) One of the things Andrew Davis wanted to talk about was the British vote, for or against exiting the European Union. We then moved on to international trade and trade deals, and what international trade and ‘free trade’ means to the United States, as well as some friendly father and son debate about executive power in these trade deals, and the negative effects they sometimes generate in this father and son Podcast 515-Andrew Davis. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and Karow Contracting.

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Podcast 490

Just Getting By. This was a big weekend. Doing business stuff for The Bob Davis Podcasts, which includes doing some final work on taxes – yes filing late for the first time in many years – and discovered many people who have donated to Mobile Podcast Command who need to be thanked for their generosity. Finally with a complete list, we work our way through the people who have been instrumental to the road trip podcasts both for the sake of travel – a new topic category with The Bob Davis Podcasts – and for covering the 2016 primary campaigns earlier this winter/spring. Another subscriber asked me to talk about the economy, and it’s been awhile, so this podcasts focuses on the Just Getting By economy. We start off with how to inform yourself about economic news, then move onto a discussion of the problem areas with the US and world economy. A slow down in demand and low inflation has hit emerging economies like China, Brazil, Russia as well as basket cases like Venezuela. Meanwhile central banks keep pumping cash into these economies, encouraging more government and corporate debt. In the US, there have been as many corporate defaults this year as 2009. Not a good sign despite economic growth and improved employment numbers. Yes we’re out of recession, no it doesn’t feel like dynamic growth because it isn’t. We’re Just Getting By. Don’t expect the next president, or congress to solve any problems because no one is discussing how to spur the growth of new technologies that will form the building blocks of a new economy and a new society. Our political leaders are still talking like it’s 1999, or maybe even 1909. Employment may be higher, but the quality of those jobs isn’t as good as it was before the 2008 recession, many of them are part time, and don’t cover benefits. Many people are freelancing, which many writers don’t seem to think is a great idea, although some people in the so called 1099 economy love the freedom, and some make pretty good money if they hustle. While companies are hiring they are being more cautious. Stories about the ‘hell’ of the modern workplace proliferate these days, although working is better than not working. Meanwhile autonomous machines, self driving cars, single seat drone aircraft you fly by wire, dirigibles, supersonic airliners, robots who can operate like human beings, artificial intelligence, new advances in communications, anti aging, advances in medicine, compounds used in manufacturing and construction, changes in money, and many more new ideas are coming down the pike at a frightening or exhilarating speed, depending on what your fear level is. The new economy is coming, whether we want it or not, and if the government gets out of the way, it might just be pretty great. Let’s work through it and figure out what to do, because clearly this crop of 1900’s trogolodites doesn’t know what to do. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul, Brush Studio, and Hydrus.

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Podcast 271

Gas Oil Collapse. Energy and Oil and Politics. We may be at the beginning of the end of an era in the energy markets, politics and economic policy but people are never going to figure it out with the terrible job the media is doing reporting on these topics. Gas is below two dollars in 13 states, crude trading at 55 dollars a barrel, with more drops expected. Meanwhile, OPEC refuses to cut production, even refuses to hold a meeting to discuss it. The drop in oil over the last few months of 40 percent so far, most of it in the last two months is beginning to have an effect. OPEC’s price war on Frackers in the US, Canada and Brazil, the international version of a gas war, is beginning to have economic and political effects. When the cheerleaders talk about oil ‘acting like a tax cut’, remember there is a lot more to this story. If energy production in the US is a big piece of the manufacturing boom, what happens when lower prices curtails exploration? Will lower oil and gas prices still act like a tax cut? What about disinflation, or outright deflation in commodity prices? What about dropping demand due to economic slow downs in China, Europe, and Latin America? Do you think the US is ‘decoupled’ from the rest of the world’s economies? On Wall Street, the story is completely different. There, investors are moving money from the market to long term Treasury Bonds, an indication of expected weakness? Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve will be hard pressed to raise interest rates (which its wants, and perhaps needs to do) in the face of declining commodity prices. This isn’t just an international problem. A Minnesota State Legislator wants to reduce farm property taxes, due to the decreased revenues farmers are seeing on their crops. As the sun sets on the Democrat Senate Majority, and rises on a huge Republican majority in the US Congress as well as state legislatures and governor’s mansions, we’re also about to enter a new era in politics, or perhaps close an old one. How will the last two years of the Obama administration differ from the previous 6? Despite the President’s progressive rhetoric, does the budget deal indicate will be a little different when it comes to horse trading with Congress? Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating and Depotstar. 

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