Podcast Consciousness. Live from the Kitchen! After a string of podcasts discussing intense topics, from economics through to participation in politics translating to political power, it’s time for a podcast consciousness podcast. How I do what I do, and how it drives me crazy sometimes. Well, maybe all the time. In searching for podcast topics, I spent some time tonight cleaning out my ‘stacks’ of news stories on foreign affairs, business, politics, local and all kinds of other topics, and found a lot of stories that never made it to ‘air’. Part of the reason for that is the effort to winnow all this day to day news writing down to some key points people can use to understand what I think is going on in the world, but the podcaster can miss the opportunity to just talk about stories that are interesting (to him). Maybe it’s winter. Maybe its cabin fever. Something’s going on below the surface though … perhaps a quest for adventure … maybe a road trip coming up … There is a restlessness rising up from the depths right now. Good time to talk about it. Plus the latest economic fairytales from the financial media, and what to look for down the road on that front. Sponsored by Baklund R &D.
Market Plunge. If it wasn’t for Ebola, this week’s Market Plunge would be the top story and we’d all be talking about it. Was it really less than a month ago that President Obama said the market and economy had come roaring back? And this week the market gave back all the gains so far of 2014. Will it come back. Analysts aren’t so sure. As the rest of the economies in the world contract, all hope was placed in US economic growth which the fantasy world created by the media hyped. Bad retail sales numbers this week dashed those hopes. Meanwhile the world’s governments and central banks that depend on inflation to wipe away debts, are very concerned about disinflation turning into deflation. Are lower commodity prices a good sign, or a bad sign? In the final analysis, the US economy will probably not be enough to act as a counterweight to fading growth in the Euro Zone and China, even with lower commodity prices. The worry on Wall Street? Faltering demand among consumers. Surprise! While the President touts economic ‘recovery’ the number of Americans on SNAP benefits (in other words Food Stamps) skyrockets, the clearest indication yet that the newly employed are in low wage part time jobs, and those out of the work force may stay out as long as government programs pay them to. Not a good combination, and certainly not one that indicates dynamic growth. What’s going on? Steve Forbes has five suggestions that are pretty good. The upshot? We’re a long way from the kinds of radical reforms that will change the scope, cost and size of the Federal Government and get things back on track. It isn’t gridlock causing the problems, its the people. It’s our politics. How do we put away creaky old Keynesian concepts moderate Republicans, democrats and progressives have championed going back to the New Deal? How do we cut away regulation, spending and taxation and reduce government power, so that new decentralizing technologies can empower the individual to innovate, generate tomorrow’s successes, and power the US out of the malaise we find ourselves in? Yes, there are Republicans afraid of radical change just as there are democrats afraid to reduce the size and power of government. We have to stop expecting creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial instincts from politicians. News Flash! Your congressman is not Steve Jobs. Not by a long shot. Some ideas to consider when thinking about the other major story chronicling the failure of ‘big government’ these days; The economy. Sponsored by Depotstar.
Ebola. “Ebola”, a word that may soon become synonymous with “Government Failure”. Does the US Government’s response to two Dallas health care workers contracting the Ebola virus make you feel more, or less confident in government. Breaking news these days provokes questions on what heavily funded government agencies are doing with our tax dollars … because they sure don’t seem to be protecting us from Ebola. Turns out the second Dallas health care worker to be infected, Amber Vinson, told the CDC she had a slight fever before boarding a flight from Cleveland to Dallas, and the CDC said, ‘Yeah, go ahead’. Turns out the CDC procedures for containing the disease at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas were not only inadequate, according to Doctors Without Borders — the organization most experienced at containing the Ebola Virus — the CDC’s guidelines for containing Ebola are flat out wrong. What is CDC director Friedman’s response? In 20/20 hindsight, we could have done better. Huh? Meanwhile, President Obama’s Ebola conference went well into the evening, and something tells us they weren’t talking about the Phoenix Suns or the Lakers basketball teams. The president wants Governors to know they can call out the national guard, and that the federal government wants to help them. Is it Halloween yet? Because that is a pretty scary thought! Is this making you feel better about the government’s response to Ebola? By the way, suddenly, President Obama thinks appointing an Ebola Czar might be a good idea, and he isn’t philosophically ‘opposed’ to a travel ban, he was just advised not to order one. Wait, is that a bus coming? Because it sure looks like someone will be thrown under it soon. First name that pops up? CDC director Tom Freidmen. Meanwhile people from Ebola stricken countries in West Africa have just been told the President is considering a travel ban. Think they’ll jump on planes to get in before that ban goes into effect? Let’s get real; The President could order a travel ban instantly, with no warning, and he only needs his phone, not even the pen. Kenya and Nigeria, instituted travel bans weeks ago and credit those bans with saving their countries from infection, but somehow its not a good idea for the US. Meanwhile the CDC gets 7 Billion dollars a year from American taxpayers and at least 200 million from private donors in the Atlanta area. The agency spends millions trying to get states to pass mandatory motorcycle helmet laws, monitoring video game and TV ‘violence’, creating so called ‘injury centers’ that regulate – wait for it – playground equipment, lobbying for gun control efforts, and pushing ‘social norming’ in government schools. But, apparently not fighting Ebola or Enterovirus D68. Houston, we have a problem. Our government doesn’t work very well and its costing Americans an arm and a leg. What do we need to do to fix this mess and get the government out of people’s personal lives, and back to doing what it is constitutionally mandated to do. Sponsored by Sedation and Implant Dentistry of Saint Paul.
