NFL Super Bowl Robbing Minnesota Blind-Civic Boosterism Gone Wild-Podcast 698

NFL Super Bowl Robbing Minnesota Blind-Civic Boosterism Gone Wild-Podcast 698

Minneapolis and Saint Paul is happy to be hosting the Super Bowl. Costs for the event are not at the top of the local media’s list of things to talk about. We will in NFL Super Bowl Robbing Minnesota Blind-Civic Boosterism Gone Wild-Podcast 698.

Losing Proposition

Local leaders say this big event will generate 400 million dollars of revenue. Cooler heads say that number is pie in the sky. 400 million doesn’t come close to covering the costs of the US Bank Stadium and The Super Bowl.

Who Pays?

Minneapolis is on the hook for 700 million dollars over the next thirty years with US Bank Stadium. Especially relevant is the fact that the Minnesota Vikings owners got one of the best stadium deals in the league. All they had to do was threaten to move the team to LA. So much for loving the people of Minnesota.

By All Means Kneel

Minneapolis and Saint Paul’s Super Bowl Committee agreed to most of the demands of the NFL for a Super Bowl. On the list? The NFL will pay no state, county or municipal taxes for any Super Bowl revenue. Guess who’s paying?

Evil Corporations Do Not Include The NFL

Truth is the taxpayers of Minneapolis and Saint Paul’s metro and the State of Minnesota are paying for this event. So much for evil corporations politicians like to rail about.

Pleased As Punch For The Super Bowl

Hot dish and frozen lakes are all the rage on the local TV and radio stations. The picture of the cute kid in a Vikings jersey at the Super Bowl Experience in the newspapers.

Meanwhile the NFL is making big deals in the presidential suites of all the local hotels the city and state are paying for.

Oh by the way, they get free police escorts as well.

Boosterism Gone Wild.

Legal Corruption

These days free stuff for corporations is what it’s all about. Subsidies for apartment buildings near the train lines. Subsidies for the Mall of America to build an addition. In addition, sweet deals for businesses juiced in to events like the Super Bowl abound.

The game isn’t football. The game is a legal corruption that robs citizens blind.

Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul.

NFL Super Bowl Robbing Minnesota Blind-Civic Boosterism Gone Wild-Podcast 698

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Value-Persuasion-Disruption-Live At The Mall-Podcast 687

Value-Persuasion-Disruption-Live At The Mall-Podcast 687

These days we seldom think about what is valuable. We want the newest. The latest. Consume. Enjoy. Move on. Spending a day at the mall makes me wonder what has real value today. In Value-Persuasion-Disruption-Live At The Mall-Podcast 687.

At The Mall

We’re at certainly one of the oldest indoor malls. Southdale Mall, in Edina, Minnesota. I used to come to Southdale a lot. Not so much anymore. While malls in general have fallen on hard times, Southdale is still home base for me.

Things Change And Stay The Same

Shopping at the mall pretty much like it always was. While decorations have changed the idea stays the same. Especially relevant is the idea that all the stores are more closely defined. Seems like more clothing and accessories than back in the day of the JC Penny on one end of the mall, and Sears on the other. We’ll talk about it in Value-Persuasion-Disruption-Live At The Mall-Podcast 687.

If That’s All There Is My Friend Then Let’s Keep Dancing

What is valuable to us these days? Many things are disposable. Software and hardware upgrades feed buying the newest and latest. The idea of a waffle iron or heavy coat that lasted a lifetime is in the past. We discuss real value in Value-Persuasion-Disruption-Live At The Mall-Podcast 687.

Brand Names and Quality

Words like Value evoke brand images in every generation. For some it’s a car, or a consumer item. For others value triggers thoughts of clothing, an accessory or something that seemed to last forever. Real value though, can also be intangibles. Attributes attached to people. ‘Things’ we have to earn.

Missing Intangibles

Seems like these days so called intangibles are taking on a great deal more significance. We miss integrity, trustworthiness and respect. We crave time and forget the value of health and the people we care most about.

Beautiful Downtown Fill In The Blank

Malls are designed to evoke feelings and images of the old time markets. Walking through the mall is supposed to feel like the old time main street and its row of shops. The watchmaker and jeweler, tailor and shoe store, outdoor store and record shop. The texture and surfaces make us feel comfortable and somehow like we’re at home.

How Do You Spell Happy?

In conclusion I could suggest that the ‘things’ that make us feel secure and happy aren’t things at all. So, in Value-Persuasion-Disruption-Live At The Mall-Podcast 687, some thought starters for your Christmas and New Year’s season about what’s really important.

Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and Brush Studio In The West End Saint Louis Park

Value-Persuasion-Disruption-Live At The Mall-Podcast 687

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Podcast 551

Escapism. Given the sour nature of our political discourse these days what do you do to escape. A morning ritual turns into a content generator for the Bob Davis Podcasts in Podcast 551 Escapism. Lately I have been bingewatching TV shows on Netflix and iTunes, with the HBO series “Shameless’ and especially this weekend to watching the entire first series of the Netflix show “Stranger Things”. Stranger Things does such a great job creating an alternate reality, you just can’t get enough. Usually when people recommend TV shows I’m like, “Yeah whatever”. Stranger Things is the exception. What a great show. Getting back to the morning ritual; Every morning I get up, make coffee and head over to the park. I sit on a hill, drink my coffee and am alone with my thoughts. No phone. No social media. No talking to myself at least for that first few minutes of awake time. It’s been great for listening to the thoughts bubbling up from the subconscious and figuring out how to do podcasts about them. This weekend’s binge viewing of Stranger Things made me think about Escapism and how important it has apparently become considering the election year we’re having and coverage of it. When I first talked about the News Cleanse about three years ago on these podcasts, I had no idea it would end up having the power it has to generate new and different things to talk about in the podcasts. I know that, given the current discourse, I don’t want to be a contributing factor to what amounts to misinformation on breaking news stories like the attack at the Mall in Saint Cloud this weekend or the daily and predictable back and forth between presidential candidates trying to capitalize on these kinds of events. Aside from the stuff that actually moves the needle; shifts in the polls, candidates collapsing in public, huge breaking stories like a financial collapse or some major shift in policy from the current administration, it’s ok to check and once in awhile on political news, but I just can’t muster the intellectual interest in the day to day nonsense that seems to animate everyone on the radio, television and on the Internet. What do you do to escape? Movies, Trips to the Wilderness? Binge Watching shows. Drugs and alcohol? How much escape is too much escape. What is healthy escape? How many want to escape, and what happens after the new president is inaugurated in January 2017. Sponsored by Hydrus Performance.

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