America Trends Podcast

 Call centers are the hub of much activity these days as customers seek information or wish to buy things.  Their role has changed over the years and the sophistication of the technology they use, the demands on them to streamline and cost cut with AI, and the supervisor ‘surveillance’ which measures their minute- by- minute activities, make the job more stressful than you might imagine.  And while we, the customer or consumer, are frustrated by the requests to take everything on- line or do a ‘chat’ with an AI bot, the humans at the end of the line have their own c...

 Isn’t it great when you deal with a company where the principal is the owner who will take full responsibility for the actions of the company’s employees?  How rare is that?  Well, according to our guest, it is getting rarer by the day as systems are built to insulate humans from ever having to claim direct responsibility for any of the indignities you may face in your dealing with companies and politicians.  Dan Davies, author of “The Unaccountability Machine: Why Big Systems Make Terrible Decisions and How the World Lost Its Mind,” describes how human decision-making has often been r...

Mark Twain evolved over his adult life when it came to matters of race.  In perhaps the greatest American novel of all time, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, Twain demonstrates his keen sense that the Civil War did not end prejudice and bigotry in our society, though it did reshape its contours.  There is no better example of Twain’s growing appreciation for the contributions that African Americans had and could make in American society than his depiction of Jim in the book.  Jim is shrewd, self-aware, and a deeply admirable man.  Based on people Twain knew, he was one of the...

Should gold and silver be a part of your portfolio? And, if so, how and when?  With precious metals prices surging is it too late to invest in them or is it just the right moment?  There are so many factors at play here that most advisors will tell you it’s all right to make it a part of your holdings, but not too much.  And if they agree with having some holdings in this category, they will want use to you it as a hedge against inflation and market volatility.  Then, you ask, how do I purchase it?  I...

In 2024, Latinos, a diverse population in America, gave Donald Trump more support than Republicans generally receive for their presidential candidate.  He was speaking quite openly of his plans to shut down the border and pursue illegal immigrants, first those involved in gangs and illegal activity, and then others who crossed into the United States without documentation.  Having seen this play out in the first 100 days of the second Trump Administration, we decided to go back to an authority on the subject, Sam Quinones, to gain his perspective on how those policies are playing out.  Mr. Quinones is a ve...

Employment attorneys like to get together at conferences and routinely discuss ‘best practices’ so that they can help employers comply with legal requirements, reduce the risk of lawsuits and promote positive work environments.  Well now, thanks to Donald Trump, Elon Musk and DOGE they have something new to discuss–‘worst practices.’  According to our guest, Attorney Gary Phelan, a partner at Hurwitz, Sagarin Slossberg & Nuff in Connecticut, co-author of “Disability Discrimination in the Workplace”, their amateurish, capricious and downright illegal approach to layoffs in the federal government meets the new gold standard in that category of employment practices.  So many lawsuits hav...

 As a window into the refugee crisis which has landed with particular impact on the European shores, journalist and author Jeanne Carstensen focuses her new book on a tragedy dating back to October 28, 2015.  At the height of the biggest refugee crisis since WWII, a dangerously overloaded old wooden boat set sail from Turkey.  The smugglers had promised the passengers ‘a very safe’ journey to the nearby Greek island of Lesvos, but soon the boat swayed from side to side, broke apart, tossing hundreds of men, women, and children into roiling seas, resulting in the largest loss of life in the cri...

While many of us do not believe Donald Trump when he says the quiet part out loud, on the matter of deporting people (mostly undocumented, but not all) out of the United States during his second term, he was serious. However, his zeal to do it has ensnared more than folks who came here without papers or overstayed visas AND committed violent crimes. There are others who’ve simply spoken their minds or been lured under false pretenses to an immigration interview and had to have a judge intercede to keep them here.  What’s going on with the use o...

 DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency in the Trump Administration, is getting a lot of headlines, but the news coming from it may not benefit long-term reforms that virtually all Americans agree are necessary in order to expedite more effective governing.  That will require streamlining and enhancing individual responsibility and accountability by civil servants, instead of strict adherence to outdated rules.  DOGE seems hellbent on taking an indiscriminate chainsaw to the government itself instead of pruning and cutting back in strategic ways and bringing more fluidity to the process.  Philip K. Howard is the Chair of commongood.org and has...

 Nuclear power was once thought to provide unlimited energy at no cost.  Then the costs became apparent–building and maintaining costly facilities, environmental degradation, abundant use of water resources, storage of radioactive waste and overall security and safety.  After the Three Mile Island accident, it was thought that nuclear energy’s promise had come and gone.  But, once again, there is buzz about the promise of nuclear energy.  And that’s because the power generated is carbon free in the age of climate disruption. And we have growing needs for electricity, particularly due to the dramatic needs for it to power ou...