America Trends

We all recall the civil rights struggles regarding lunch counters, buses and other public accommodations, yet many have overlooked the fences and barricades that have blocked the public right to ocean access to many. Beachfront property owners, wealthy towns and private homeowners’ associations have put up a range of physical and legal barriers to restrict … Continue reading EP 146 FREE THE BEACHES

  America is now an oil exporter. Saudi Arabia has been one for the better part of a century, first in partnership with Standard Oil of Southern California(now Chevron)and over time on their own. The history of Saudi Arabia is inextricably linked to the business acumen of the ruling family and their ability to make … Continue reading EP 145 Saudi, Inc.

  Ninety miles from Florida’s southern tip lies the intriguing political story of Cuba. Long-time enemies, trying to spread Communism in our sphere of influence, once a client state of the former Soviet Union, we must consider what kind of risk or opportunity the island holds for us today. With Fidel Castro dead and Raul … Continue reading EP 144 THE FUTURE OF CUBA AFTER THE CASTROS

FDR reminded us of this many years ago.  And, according to author Gregg Easterbrook it’s never being truer than today.  So while we dwell on small details the big picture for the world is that whatever indices you use–disease, poverty, resource depletion, crime, food supply, world war–the world has never been better off.  Mr. Easterbrook … Continue reading EP 143 It’s Better Than It Looks

Astronomist, David Weintraub, completes our mini-series on current space exploits by explaining the historical fascination with the red planet and present day efforts to get there in his book ‘Life on Mars: What to Know Before You Go’.  It’s all the rage and the pioneers are lining up to jump aboard the first manned spaceship … Continue reading EP 142 Life on Mars

Remember when we would watch in awe as Americans were lifted into space?  What pride we all had in NASA and our country’s scientific greatness.  While we still send astronauts to the International Space Station, courtesy of the Russian government(imagine that), but as Neil DeGrass Tyson said ‘going where man has gone many times before’. … Continue reading EP 141 The Space Barons

  The panel discussion continues. Description is available below With the term being bandied about as a weapon of mass distraction, you probably are confused by what the term ‘fake news’ really means. It’s for that reason that America Trends brings you a two-part series culled from a panel discussion which Larry Rifkin moderated in … Continue reading EP 140 FAKE NEWS: IS IT REAL? Part Two

With the term being bandied about as a weapon of mass distraction, you probably are confused by what the term ‘fake news’ really means. It’s for that reason that America Trends brings you a two-part series culled from a panel discussion which Larry Rifkin moderated in Connecticut recently. The panel included three Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists. … Continue reading EP 139 FAKE NEWS: IS IT REAL? Part One

‘What gets measured gets done’, according to management experts like Tom Peters. But does it get done at the expense of other–more important–things? That’s the central question of the book ‘The Tyranny of Metrics’ by Jerry Z. Muller. He joins us for a discussion of whether all goods and services in our society can be … Continue reading EP 138 IS THE NUMBERS GAME MEASURING OR BETRAYING AMERICAN PROGRESS?

Recently, when the U.S. Supreme Court declared the federal ban on sports betting unconstitutional and repealed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, it opened the floodgates for any state to legalize sports betting.  On the heels of this decision, America Trends got busy in finding out what this might suggest for the future for … Continue reading EP 137 America Turns Into One Big Casino

Do you believe in extraterrestrial beings and contacts from deep space?  Or are you just awakening to more openness about issues of higher consciousness?  If you’re like many Americans you’re becoming much more accepting of phenomena previously considered unusual and little spoken of.  Producer and director Caroline Cory has just made a film, titled ‘E.T. … Continue reading EP 136 E.T. Contact

For a relatively young and small country–only 70 years old and less populated than North Carolina–with few natural resources, Israel is playing a disproportionate role in solving some of the world’s biggest challenges in tech, medicine, agriculture, water independence and other fields.  What explains this? Author Avi Jorisch says that while the Jewish concept of … Continue reading EP 135 Thou Shalt Innovate!

This episode begins a two-part series on how modern Israel came to be, what it is today and how it is making innovation its calling card to friendly and hostile nations alike.  In this episode, author and scholar Michael Brenner helps us to understand Zionism in an historical context and current day challenges for the … Continue reading EP 134 In Search of Israel

Description: We know the movement ‘Black Lives Matter’, but after hearing Dr. Warren Farrell address the problem, you will wonder why there is no analog to that called ‘Boys Lives Matter’.  By virtually any measure, boys in America are in crisis. They are falling behind in schools, being yanked out of the workforce as automation … Continue reading EP 133 The Boys’ Crisis

If there is a trend in America begging for attention it’s what we see happening to boys in our culture.  They’re failing in school, struggling to find identities and often unable to get jobs.  And more to the point, they are acting out in ways that are destructive.  We read in the news, on a … Continue reading EP 132 BOYS ADRIFT IN AMERICAN SOCIETY

You might find it increasingly difficult to get in to see your doctor–or any physician, for that matter-in the near future.  The demand for doctors in the U.S. has outpaced supply, and the problem is only expected to get worse. According to new research from the Association of American Medical Colleges, the U.S. faces a … Continue reading EP 131 IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE? LOOKING AHEAD THE ANSWER IS LIKELY TO BE ‘NO’

Description: Predictive analytics is about to take the fun out of not knowing the future, according to Rebecca Costa, a sociobiologist (yes we have her explain that science).  She explains that “we have more information–more empirical data–about the future than at any other time in human history. We know when a hurricane, tornado or tsunami … Continue reading EP 130 DO YOU LIKE SURPRISES? WE’RE ON THE VERGE OF MAKING VIRTUALLY EVERYTHING PREDICTABLE

Description: Whether it’s concerns about Internet security or real world impacts on the brick and mortar economy, high tech companies are under attack.  And given their size and impact, The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse–Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon–are coming under scrutiny for various reasons. Some say they have grown too big and made various … Continue reading EP 129 Should Big Tech be Broken Up?

Description: Fifty years after the sexual revolution, sex in America is in decline.  Americans are having less sex, the share of Americans who say they never once had sex in the past year is rising, and–perhaps most surprising–this revolution in sexual behavior is being led by the young.  And this trend pre-dates the #MeToo movement. … Continue reading EP 128 TOO MUCH NETFLIX: WHY YOUNG AMERICANS ARE HAVING LESS SEX

It’s doubtful that the subject of this episode is something you’ve given much thought to, but once the concept of ‘intangible assets’ is laid out it can make for a really important conversation about the future.  Simply put, how do you put a value on a ride company that owns no cars(Uber)or a hospitality service … Continue reading EP 127 CAN CAPITALISM GO ON WITHOUT CAPITAL?