Podcast 308

Cars. A prominent British auto collector said recently the driverless car will have a catastrophic impact on the auto industry, sooner than you think. Recently a few stories about the twentieth century romance with the automobile may have caught your eye. The son of a collector in France, who’s vintage Ferrari’s, Spyder’s, and Maserati’s were forgotten for decades, and an auto dealer in Pierce, Nebraska who saved his unsold inventory, resulting in a stunning collection of hardly driven Chevy cars and trucks from the 1930’s onward. Nothing says twentieth century like the car. From the Model T and Al Capone’s 16 cylinder Cadillac to the muscle cars of the 1960’s and 1970’s. This is not a technical automotive discussion, more a talk about how automotive technology conveyed independence and freedom for the first Model T owners, all the way up to the baby boom generation. For many, the car IS the American Dream. With student loan debt averaging around 8 thousand dollars, credit card debt and rents increasing, today’s young adults struggle to afford a car, and many don’t want one anyway. What conveys freedom today? The smart phone and the technology and communication it brings. While many are nostalgic for an easier time – cruising the Dairy Queen or main street on a Friday night – disruptive changes technology brings can be frustrating and frightening … but they can also inspire. Today’s new technology actually does convey independence and freedom in ways Henry Ford couldn’t imagine. Today’s industrialists in Silicon Valley and Seattle, worry about artificial intelligence; smart machines some believe threaten humanity. Meanwhile, Bill Gates and those following in his footsteps are rushing to create autonomous software and machines that can do everything from pick fruit to work as medical orderlies. There is a new world coming, and its coming fast. Many of our social institutions were created for the twentieth century world, which will soon be left in the dust, and it doesn’t seem like we’re ready to accommodate new ideas like the Driverless Car, autonomous machines, robotics and many other innovations. What happened to the romance of the open road, and the Plymouth Road Runner? It got stepped on by an iPhone. Now what? (Editor’s Note: I like this podcast because it also includes a lot of memories from my childhood, and some great car songs.) Sponsored by My Complete Basement Systems, and Depotstar. 

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The Bob Davis Podcast

Podcast 268

Not 1995! Lots of stories in the news about real estate and consumer culture, and the state of retail. Its starting to feel like the business models that have propelled us from the 90’s aren’t working so well anymore. Now analysts wonder why millennials aren’t buying homes. Zillow theorizes that people are trapped in a high rent situation that prevents them from saving for a home down payment. There’s a greater question though. While we have been subjected to one rosy scenario after another about housing’s comeback — which really hasn’t materialized —  when repairs, taxes, assessments, interest and other costs of home loans over thirty years are considered, do you think owning really that much economical? With millennials burdened by student loans, the specter of higher lifetime social security costs and poor quality employment, is anyone really that surprised they’re not in the home buying mood? Then, when you consider higher spending and debt levels, and the pension commitments for state and local governments, would you say you think taxes will be going down, or up? Potential buyers are also factoring this in, and the cost of the urban utopia created by subsidies, federal spending and higher taxation. Finally, have you priced homes in these urban utopias millennials supposedly want to live in? By the way, a new survey says the one thing people ‘blow’ their budget on these days is eating out, all the more expensive in the ‘urban utopia’, ruled by broke hipsters. When millennials finally do start families, they’ll be looking in the suburbs for housing because its more affordable. Then there’s the retail question. This week congress decided not to tax purchases made on the Internet, much to the chagrin of retailers that have been manhandling their legislators to push for a tax to ‘even the playing field’. More and more there are examples of how retailers want to use law and licensing to fence off competition. Meanwhile their business models suck. Poor service, high prices, snooty attitudes; It’s no wonder people want to buy things on line. Uber’s fight to get into Portland and New York City are just two examples; There taxi drivers try to fence off competition by selling ‘licenses’ rather than providing a service people want. We’re on the cusp of big changes when it comes to consumer culture in America, and it’s a good thing. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and by Depotstar. 

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The Bob Davis Podcast

Podcast 257

Weekend Update. Extreme weather in Buffalo, New York drops at least 6 feet of snow; more in one day than they get all year, and that’s extreme, even for a place like Buffalo. This weekend the Bills have to play in Detroit due to the snow. Speaking of Football Stadiums. Minnesota has one of the worst professional sports stadium deals in the country. That is, Minnesota taxpayers will pay a larger share of the new Vikings Stadium than taxpayers in other states pay for theirs. Imagine Vikings fans surprise when they learned from The Minneapolis Tribune, the Vikings will pay a larger share for ‘their’ stadium. How much? A little more than half a million dollars. Yeah. Kudos to the Star-Tribune for providing the people of Minneapolis-Saint Paul and the state of Minnesota with a free ad for the Minnesota Vikings. We’d like to see them pay a lot more, like about 600 MILLION more, but that will never happen thanks to so called fiscally responsible republicans in the state legislature who did the stadium deal back in the day. Minnesota Senator Al Franken is all up in Uber’s grill because of comments made by an executive of the company ‘threatening’ a ‘journalist’ — and revealing the company keeps electronic records of all their clients’ travels. The Senator wrote an angry letter to the company demanding to know whether it is keeping data, confidential. Isn’t it nice, with all the other issues; immigration, Keystone, and War, the Senator found time to stand up for a journalist. By the way, that little ‘I Agree’ button is something he might want to take a look at. And speaking of parasitic capitalists: When Tesla’s Elon Musk isn’t profiting from energy subsidies or selling carbon credits to his direct competitors, he’s braying about artificial intelligence and how it will destroy humanity. Always good for positive media coverage from reporters who don’t know what AI is anyway. But the Japanese are forging ahead with FEMBOTS! Soon they will be receptionists, TV presenters, even companions! And Japan doesn’t care if they take over, since everyone is too old to work there. Then there is Bill Cosby. While the media acts as judge, and jury it is important to remember Cosby has never been charged, or convicted of anything. Is it ok that the media gets to decide whether someone is a rapist, murderer or thief? What about spy? Just sayin’. Finally some thoughts about work. More people these days are leaving corporate america to start their own small businesses. Never before have the tools been better for amplifying the individual.  With as much as 13 percent of the work force is checking out of the cubicle, into their own businesses who can blame them? Working for most of today’s corporations is nothing but drudgery and people are getting sick of it. What will the future company look like, and how will people work for them? Sponsored by Depotstar. 

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