Podcast 395

Simple Solutions. On the campaign trail, it all sounds so easy. ‘Take the fight to ISIS’, ‘Take from the rich, give to the poor’, ‘Make America Great Again’, ‘Fix the economy!’, and so on. Lots of barnstormers mostly rolling through Iowa hayfields, standing at picnics, throwing out bromides and quick fixes for whatever ails the nation. With so many politicians, suddenly all our problems seem, well solvable. We want our foreign policy ‘problems’ and economic problems solved as quickly as we reorder a latte, or another salad with the right dressing. When things don’t work smoothly, we throw a tantrum and demand fixes right now. In political theater we want sound bite solutions and we want problems solved preferably before the end of the show. There isn’t anything a podium pounding politician or talk show host can’t solve, dammit! Just send in the special forces, give everyone a tax cut, shut down the border, open up the economy, light up the Russians and the Chinese and well, make American Great Again. Right? The latest ‘truth tellers’ don’t really propose any solutions, they propose more rhetoric. Who’s to blame? We are. We don’t want to know how complex our problems might be. We don’t want to know how difficult they are to solve, when it comes to corralling 435 Congressmen, 100 Senators, countless cabinet secretaries, experts, lawyers, Supreme Court Justices, and the media. We just want someone to tell us what we want to hear. Send in a few hundred ‘special forces guys’ to take care of ISIS, or a B-1 Bomber. Fix the economy. Cure the moral character. And shut those liberals up while you’re at it. What this country needs is a businessman! What this country needs is a General! What this country needs is (fill in the blank). What this country needs is a grown up electorate. Given a steady diet of onion rings, Fox News (or CNN), or the Daily Beast and Buzz Feed, what are the chances that will happen? Sponsored by X Government Cars. 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:00 — ) | Embed

Subscribe: RSS

Podcast 389

Black Swans. What is a Black Swan Event? By definition, its not necessarily predictable, but we try in this podcast. We’re at the end of an era in the United States. You could say the same about the west in general, and maybe the rest of the world. While things seem on a relatively predictable path in the present time frame one thing we can all be sure of; Something will happen. Things will change. Perhaps significantly. What then is the event that introduces the pivot point that changes politics, society and history? We can only speculate. A financial crisis in China that leads to chaos. Disruption in the Euro Zone triggered by Greece that upsets the balance of power and destabilizes the Balkans. A nuclear weapon in the hands of ISIS. An EMP attack that turns our our technological wonders into junk. Disease. Earthquakes. Comet strikes. Aliens landing. Pick your poison. Or, Black Swan Events that end up being really good. The discovery of a stable anti or reverse aging drug. A way to increase intelligence in human beings. Manageable Machine Intelligence. A breakthrough in agriculture or energy that provides a stable source of food and power. The development of anti-gravity capabilities to lift huge payloads into space, revolutionizing space travel. A really good powdered milk! (JK). The key with these events isn’t necessarily predicting the event itself; It’s being prepared for, and predicting the reaction of mere mortals to the event. It wasn’t the stock market crash of 1929 that caused the depression, it was the government’s lame brained reaction to it. It wasn’t the assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand that caused World War I, it was the secret pacts and misunderstood capabilities, coupled with irreversible mobilizations that caused World War I. And so on. It’s fun to speculate on the future. Sponsored by X Government Cars. 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:34 — ) | Embed

Subscribe: RSS

Podcast 383 – Emmer on Trade

Emmer on Trade. Live from the Nation’s Capital, Washington DC, where it’s all about free trade authority. To talk about it with the Bob Davis Podcasts, Congressman Tom Emmer left the Cannon House Office building, walked a couple of blocks, to where the Mobile Podcast Command Unit was parked. He is the first official interview in the Podcast Mobile Command Unit. At issue, votes for three measures constituting fast track trade authority for President Obama on Pacific nations, not including China. Opposition to this package of bills being considered takes two forms; Some Republicans don’t want to grant this president any more authority, especially when considering his pen and love for overstepping pesky things like the constitution. Democrats oppose because they believe this trade deal will hurt American workers, and American jobs. Tom’s take is, this package of bills, particularly the TPA (Trans Pacific Trade Authority) actually limits the president’s unilateral authority, at least when it comes to congress, which is one of the reasons he supports the legislation. Are you a trade protectionist, or a free trader? What are the benefits, drawbacks of each position? Do you think a president should be given ‘fast track’ authority to negotiate these deals, considering the possibility for this president, or future president’s to include initiatives that could actually hurt the country, a concern for everyone regardless of where they ‘lean’ on the political spectrum. If you speak in political circles you’re going to hear “They shipped all our jobs to China” more than once from democrats and republicans. While IT, higher labor costs have been factors in company’s decisions to outsource and have cost American jobs, some say the country is much better off economically with free trade, than trying to protect American jobs. China itself (not a part of this trade deal by the way) has already eliminated millions of jobs with IT. Millions more jobs will be lost even more technology is installed in the coming years. What’s effected American jobs the most? Poor economic growth. Another factor in pushing this agreement is the idea that American soft power (trade and diplomatic relationships) is what we should be developing, because its less costly than troops and ships and weapons systems. But without so called hard power, is soft power possible to sustain? Apparently a congressmen some consider to be conservative thinks so. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul. (Editor’s Note: You don’t often see congressmen come to media on a backstreet behind the Cannon Office Building, and I want to personally thank Tom Emmer for doing so.)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:37 — ) | Embed

Subscribe: RSS