Podcast 275

Nye’s Bar To Close. The news came down in the last few weeks, the iconic Minneapolis Nye’s Bar will be closing sometime in August or September of 2015. The Bob Davis Podcast visits Nye’s on a Friday to give listeners the feel of the place. Opened in 1950, Nye’s Polonaise Room was kind of the grandma and grandpa bar in the late 70’s, and through the 80’s. Hipsters love its 1950’s decor, red naugahyde booths and kitchy piano bar. Nye’s Bar – featuring a polka band – is even funkier, and is older than the Polonaise Room. What’s not for hipsters to like? The owners are closing the restaurant and bar because they say, even with its popularity, there’s not enough business during the week, despite a ton of people there on the weekends, to keep the place open. What will replace Nye’s? A 20 to 30 story glass tower apartment building, according to owners. Minneapolis has always had a penchant for destroying the old, and putting up modern glass and brick buildings, and nothing has changed. The new city council apparently favors this kind of development, so don’t look for too many roadblocks. Yes, Nye’s owners ought to be able to do whatever they want with their business. But, regional plans, city plans, subsidies and things like taxpayer funded stadiums all over the place doesn’t bode well for mom and pop structures. Rents are going up. Costs to businesses are going up, as condos and apartments only trust fund babies can afford all over the city. They keep saying they want soul, but they keep tearing down all the soulful buildings. When is it too much development? What are the real costs of such subsidized development? This podcast also features some of the people singing at the Piano Bar. Some are better than others, but some of them were really good. Spend an evening at the Nye’s Piano Bar before it all goes away. It’s actually really special entertainment. In fact, play the podcast, and you’ll spend an evening at Nye’s again and again, long after it is gone. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul. 

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Podcast 252

The Gathering Storm. Business and Economic News. The latest headlines include a Mayor who throws alleged gang signals to curry favor with unsavory characters, a video of an MIT Obama Care ‘architect’ who says the law was poorly written to fool ‘stupid’ voters (what a surprise!), and the mainstream media election 2014 chatter is increasingly vapid. Time to turn to an issue no one seems to be paying attention to, save for the financial and market watchers. As commodity and housing prices decline the mainstream media tells us deflation is bad, because falling prices mean people will ‘wait’ to make purchases. Never mind we have had deflation (dropping prices) for things like flat screen TV’s and tech for years, and people keep buying. The real problem with deflation is that governments need inflation to pay off their debts. Inflation is how governments have robbed Americans of purchasing power and hidden the ill effects of profligate spending for decades. Central Banks and governments all over the world are trying, and failing, to create inflation. Now they are terrified that slow, or no economic growth may finally be creating a deflation, which means debts will become more difficult to repay. What the mainstream media isn’t telling you about lower oil prices is, major economies all over the world are stalling, lowering demand for energy and everything else. The EU, Japan, China, Russia, India, Brazil, even the US have anemic economic growth, or they are contracting. Housing is not cooperating with efforts to stimulate. Half the people in this country make less than $28,000 a year, the average college graduate has at least 26,000 dollars in debt, making some wonder what the millennials will be buying houses with. Years of anemic economic growth is taking its toll in people out of the labor force, stagnant wages and substandard job creation. The statistics look good, but don’t tell the real economic story in the United States and the rest of the world; Things aren’t going so well. The gathering storm isn’t deflation, it’s the political reaction to it. Bill Gross said recently, stimulative efforts by governments and central banks aren’t ‘working as well as they used to’. The cure? More of the same! What about the idea that what they’re doing just isn’t working? Politicians aren’t addressing this issue at all, whether they be democrat or republican. Does this mean a disaster is brewing? Democrats want to double down on failed economic policy  (basically print and borrow more money) and Republicans don’t seem to have an agenda which will lead to the growth we need. Add to this, chaos in the world as the US withdraws … a confused foreign policy … and you have a recipe for disaster; A gathering storm. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and by Depotstar. 

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