Author Topic: Podcast Culture  (Read 1991 times)

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Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Podcast Culture
« Reply #15 on: October 19, 2018, 06:15:20 am »
https://www.gimletmedia.com/reply-all/127-the-crime-machine-part-i

This is a must listen.  The management approach behind attacking NY's crime rate in the 1990s.

This is a great illustration of the boom/bust cycle of "managing to numbers". 

Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Podcast Culture
« Reply #16 on: December 14, 2018, 05:31:40 am »
https://www.gimletmedia.com/reply-all/132-negative-mount-pleasant#episode-player

Really interesting takedown of how governments offer too many incentives to bring industry to depressed areas.  In this case it's Foxconn and Wisconsin.

Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Podcast Culture
« Reply #17 on: December 24, 2018, 07:53:08 am »

Offline kimmy

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Re: Podcast Culture
« Reply #18 on: December 26, 2018, 12:17:46 pm »
https://www.gimletmedia.com/reply-all/132-negative-mount-pleasant#episode-player

Really interesting takedown of how governments offer too many incentives to bring industry to depressed areas.  In this case it's Foxconn and Wisconsin.

I was reading about the Foxconn debacle back in September or October... prior to the election.  Gov. Walker had given Foxconn so much in incentives and tax breaks and so-on to build a new plant in Wisconsin that it had become widely viewed as a boondoggle... something that was supposed to be a signature piece for Walker's administration became something that was so negatively viewed that they weren't even talking about it in their re-election campaign.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/29/18027032/foxconn-wisconsin-plant-jobs-deal-subsidy-governor-scott-walker

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The size of the subsidy was stunning. It was far and away the largest in Wisconsin history and the largest government handout to a foreign company ever given in America. Like most states, Wisconsin had given subsidies to companies in the past, but never higher than $35,000 per job. Foxconn’s subsidy was $230,000 per job.

...

As the size of the subsidy has steadily increased to a jaw-dropping $4.1 billion, Foxconn has repeatedly changed what it plans to do, raising doubts about the number of jobs it will create. Instead of the promised Generation 10.5 plant, Foxconn now says it will build a much smaller Gen 6 plant, which would require one-third of the promised investment, although the company insists it will eventually hit the $10 billion investment target. And instead of a factory of workers building panels for 75-inch TVs, Foxconn executives now say the goal is to build “ecosystem” of buzzwords called “AI 8K+5G” with most of the manufacturing done by robots.

...

Back when the subsidy was $3 billion, Wisconsin’s non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimated that it would take until 2043 for taxpayers to recoup the subsidy. This long payback period was due to Walker and Republicans effectively cutting the state’s corporate income tax for manufacturers to zero in 2011. This meant the subsidies to Foxconn would not be a tax write-off, but billions in cash that would be paid back by state income taxes paid by Foxconn workers. At $4.1 billion, the payback date for the state was likely 2050 or later.

Some doubt the subsidy will ever actually be recouped. “Realistically, the payback period for a $100,000 per job deal is not 20 years, not 42 years, but somewhere between hundreds of years and never,” wrote Jeffrey Dorfman, an economics professor at the University of Georgia, in a story for Forbes. “At $230,000 [or more] per job, there is no hope of recapturing the state funds spent.” And this was before the subsidy had risen to $4.1 billion, or about $315,000 per job.

Some of these jobs being created may actually be filled by imported workers from China.  This article also mentions Foxconn having been given 1000 acres of land for free. There's a video of a morbidly obese Wisconsin family who find themselves facing relocation as the state uses "eminent domain" to secure the land needed.

https://reason.com/blog/2018/11/06/scott-walker-foxconn-chinese-workers

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Today's news that Foxconn will likely import workers from China to fill jobs at the Wisconsin plant should be another warning sign to politicians who go all-in to land a major employer in their town, city, or state. Once the deal is inked and the taxpayers are holding the bag, plans can (and do) change for reasons that may not have been anticipated or included in the original arrangement. Wisconsin would be better off with lower tax rates for everyone, instead of subsidizing a giant employer. I'm sure the cities vying to host the second Amazon headquarters are paying attention, right?



 -k
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Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Podcast Culture
« Reply #19 on: December 26, 2018, 03:46:14 pm »
Some of that is in the podcast but wow.

Offline kimmy

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Re: Podcast Culture
« Reply #20 on: December 28, 2018, 03:55:32 am »
I've never really gotten into podcasts. If the idea is just to get information, I'd rather read, because I can read a lot faster than people can talk and I can go back to review if something wasn't clear the first time.

The few times I've found a podcast to be worth the time was when it was interviews with interesting guests. The one that sticks in my head is Sam Harris (the atheist) interviewing Megan Phelps (from the Westboro Baptist Church) and her telling the story of her gradual deconversion and leaving the church (literally in the middle of the night, with her little sister Grace along with her.)  That was absolutely fascinating to listen to. I already knew most of the story, but hearing Megan tell it in her own words, with Harris asking the kinds of things that as a fellow atheist I wanted to know as well, was better than reading it.

But for the most part, I've just never gotten into podcasts. The Joe Rogan Experience is apparently wildly popular.  I've never tried it myself. I gather that it's best enjoyed with a bong full of the finest chiba-chiba.   I listened to a Canadaland podcast once, and felt like it was the same kind of back-and-forth you'd see on a message board thread, except that I couldn't jump in and hit the reply button.

Are there other podcasts that I should try?

 -k
Paris - London - New York - Kim City

Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Podcast Culture
« Reply #21 on: December 28, 2018, 07:03:06 am »
Reply-All is pretty fun.  It's like an aural documentary.  The format works well for commuting or doing housework while listening.

Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Podcast Culture
« Reply #22 on: December 28, 2018, 02:14:03 pm »
https://www.canadalandshow.com/shows/thunder-bay/

I'm listening to this one... not an easy listen.

Offline ?Impact

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Re: Podcast Culture
« Reply #23 on: December 28, 2018, 02:23:28 pm »
I've never really gotten into podcasts. If the idea is just to get information, I'd rather read, because I can read a lot faster than people can talk and I can go back to review if something wasn't clear the first time.

A few years back, I was spending a lot of time on the road and listened to a lot of podcasts because reading and driving don't mix. Perhaps now with satellite radio things are better, but finding an interesting local station that wasn't 90% commercials was always a chore. These days most of my driving is within range of Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto broadcast stations I am familiar with, but still they seem to be very heavy on the advertising. It is just that I am only on the road a few times a year so getting into podcasts has too much overhead.  I agree however that reading is generally preferable.

Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Podcast Culture
« Reply #24 on: December 28, 2018, 09:20:06 pm »
Pls start a Satellite Radio Culture thread 😀

Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Podcast Culture
« Reply #25 on: August 23, 2019, 07:31:57 am »
https://www.tradetalkspodcast.com/podcast/97-watching-chinas-human-rights/

Great visit with Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch.

This is a comprehensive survey of China's behaviour in the realm of Human Rights.  Listen and be informed.

Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Podcast Culture
« Reply #26 on: September 14, 2019, 05:01:21 pm »
I love ideas... really love them

https://hbr.org/2018/01/podcast-ideacast

Harvard Business Review has a 'business' focus but still lots of interesting things in there.

Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Podcast Culture
« Reply #27 on: September 18, 2019, 07:39:36 am »
MUST LISTEN.

Capitalism and Environmentalism are on the same team, when framed as partners in cost (and therefore material & energy) reduction.

https://hbr.org/ideacast/2019/09/dematerialization-and-what-it-means-for-the-economy-and-climate-change
 

Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Podcast Culture
« Reply #28 on: October 04, 2019, 06:45:14 am »
I'm only 1/2 way through this but it seems to be a practical assessment of the impact of television on North American (and perhaps general) politics over the past 40 years.  In other words, from the 3-network era of politics that began its dominance with the Kennedy Nixon debate, and started to move into Cable news... to the 'single channel single viewer' landscape of today.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/politics-podcast-how-tvs-evolution-explains-todays-politics/

Startling to me that it fully subsumes McLuhan theory without feeling at all eccentric or overly academic. 

Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Podcast Culture
« Reply #29 on: October 13, 2019, 03:19:36 pm »
https://soundcloud.com/harpersmagazine/conditions-of-impeachment

Just discovered Harpers podcast.  This one is a discussion of experts on how no constitution can really prevent a Trump... take a listen