Podcast 472

Texas. That’s all you need to say. Texas. We start on the Texas Gulf Coast at Galveston and work our way up to Beaumont, Houston, on through central Texas with an eye toward La Grange, Austin, Waco and finally to Dallas. If you woke up in one of these places, even any of the smaller towns along the way, you would know, you could only be in Texas. Along the way, lots of stories from this Road Trip so far, including the drive up the Gulf Coast through Mississippi and Alabama, and Louisiana, ending in New Orleans on Saturday night, where Mobile Podcast Command was forced to break the law, in service of a cup of chicory coffee and a pastry from Cafe Dumonde. Sadly, New Orleans seems like it is still struggling to overcome the effects of Katrina, which is probably why there are suddenly so many parking restrictions, and the parking authorities so vigilant. So out of character for this ‘anything goes’ town. In Mississippi, you pass the beautiful home of the president of the confederacy Jefferson Davis, and one can only wonder what it must have been like to leave this gorgeous home on the beach, move to a place like Richmond, to ‘run the confederacy’; a really bad decision in the long run. Did he ever make it back? Then the gulf coast, with its brand new ‘towns on stilts’…literally the houses, the stores, the cafes are all built on pylons, to withstand floods and perhaps the intense winds of hurricanes, which come every year. The Bolivar Peninsula, and Galveston where I finally found the deserted coast line I have been looking for. Finally central Texas including Houston and finally Dallas. Both of these cities are juggernauts on their own. When you combine Houston and Dallas with San Antonio, Austin and the western Texas cities, you begin to understand why this state is so important, and why it is unlike any other. Sponsored by Hydrus and Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul. 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:30 — 85.8MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Podcast 433

Voting Surprises. Elections held on November 3rd, 2015 show the potential for voters to surprise and even shock media, pundits and commentators. Is a Tea-Party Republican victory in the Kentucky Governor’s race a harbinger of surprises to come once people start actually voting in the primaries and caucuses starting February 1st, 2016? Voters in Ohio rejected legalizing Marijuana, Democrats in Virginia lost their bid to gain control of the State Senate, and LGBT rights legislation failed in Houston, Texas. Is this a conservative voting trend? The next actual election is November 21st in Louisiana, where polls say a Democrat is favored to win the bid to replace Republican Governor Bobby Jindal. Is the chattering class underestimating the possibility that conservative voters could show up in large numbers, shifting the country to the right. Same question applies to the grip of establishment republicans on power in the GOP. It is dangerous to believe polls, especially this early in the process. When it comes to real political science, the proof is in the pudding. If there is a trend of angry voters on the right turning out, the punditry is going to be caught flat footed, but the establishment republicans will be shocked. One gets the impression, reporters and commentators covering these elections hear so many stump speeches and have so much red meat thrown at them they get jaded when it comes to the degree of frustration of ordinary voters. The turmoil on the right is a storm brewed up by svengali strategists at the RNC who expected to crown Jeb Bush the nominee. Now Trump, Carson and Cruz threaten the whole house of cards, demanding their own rules for debates or upsetting the carefully constructed plan. Outliers Trump and Sanders on the left are shaking up the status quo and challenging the idea that suzerains in Washington get to decide who the nominee will be on either side. In the real news, things don’t seem to be going so well and the commentariat continues to write tripe. The GDP only ‘grew’ 1.5 percent, but don’t worry growth is expected when consumers, ‘spending the savings from lower gas prices like a tax cut’ finally kicks in. A new study done by Democrat Operatives that says Mergers and Acquisitions are causing ‘inequality’. Is this true? Meanwhile Congressional Republicans lift the debt ceiling and federal spending jumped by 338 billion dollars. Maybe they should be talking about cutting spending rather than cutting taxes? Sponsored by Pride of Homes and Luke Team Real Estate and Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul. 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:26 — ) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Podcast 412

Dream It Do It. Thanks to all the beta testers of the Bob Davis Audiobook ‘The Chieftain 2021’ delivery systems. If you have not received an email download link yet, let us know. Advising beta testers of some of the issues related to the audiobook and how they’re solved provokes a discussion about creativity, what a dream is, and living the dream. We live in a society that increasingly seems as though its trying to tell us why we can’t do something rather than encouraging us to try. Some people who mean well, are really dream killers. What it would be like to make one tiny part of your dream come true? How would you feel? How would your life change? Technology makes it easier than ever to make our dreams come true. Now, all we have to do is create a structure that encourages people to make their dreams come true, rather than an aging structure that kills dreams. One way to make dreams come true would be to encourage economic growth. Republican candidate Jeb Bush says he has a plan for four percent economic growth, achieved through ‘cutting taxes’. ‘Cutting Taxes’; the holy grail of Republican politics. The thing is, growth won’t happen if you cut taxes on one group and raise taxes on the other if you don’t cut spending too. All you’re really doing is gathering water from the deep end of the pool and pouring it into the shallow end. Here’s a dream for you; A government that spends less every year and taxes less because of it. A government that doesn’t spy on its citizens because it needs to focus resources on existential threats. A government that doesn’t pick winners and losers, all the while adding to its own payrolls and growing larger and more dangerous every year. Guess what? None of the Republicans and certainly not the Democrats are talking about doing this. Meanwhile, the state of Illinois — the national financial basket case — is giving its lottery winners IOU’s; There isn’t enough cash in state coffers to pay them. Maybe its time to think differently about what government does, and what it costs us. Sponsored by X Government Trucks, Pride Of Homes and Luke Team Real Estate.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:55 — ) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS