Bold TV

Is it too early for the holiday shopping season? ?? I walked into a big box store here in Texas and was shocked to find a huge selection of Christmas decor! ?? Retailers are launching their holiday sales and products earlier than ever. Never mind Thanksgiving to Christmas--the holiday shopping season has already started more than two weeks before Halloween! ???? Additionally, retailers like Amazon are having sales earlier than traditional Black Friday or Cyber Monday. ??? Still, the holiday season may be a dud for retailers. Consumers have inflation fatigue, and most plan on spending less this year because of high prices. ?? So, if you haven't seen Christmas out on display at your local store, get ready! It appears all of the fourth quarter is now the broader holiday shopping season. ????? Do you think it's way too early for the holiday shopping season? Let me know in the poll below! ????

Would you listen to an AI-generated podcast? ?? The latest craze is to create your own custom AI podcast with Google's Notebook LM tool! ?? (https://notebooklm.google/) It's fairly easy, as all you have to do to add sources (PDFs, links, etc), and the tool will generate what it calls an audio overview. ?? The AI podcast sounds completely real and features two hosts talking about your subject of choice. ?? Notebook LM (LM stands for language model) has a bunch of other uses too that can help you summarize a topic through multiple sources. ?? Over the weekend, I listened to a podcast about palm trees, Project 2025, the Space Race, and other random topics that piqued my interest. ?? That begs the question: Would you listen to an AI-generated podcast, or do you prefer your hosts to be human? ?? Let me know in the poll below! ????

Would you pay for news on CNN.com? ?? CNN is now changing $3.99 a month to access its articles and videos. ?? The new paywall marks the first time the news channel is charging people for its online content! ?? CNN receives nearly 160 million unique visitors monthly, making it one of the most popular news websites on the planet. ?? Reuters is also throwing up a paywall and asking customers for a dollar a week, or four dollars a month, for users to read formerly free articles. ?? Reuters gets about 50 million unique monthly visitors to its global newswire service. ?? The news subscription market is a very crowded space, and these marquee companies risk seeing their traffic nosedive. ?? I have several news subscriptions, but I've recently cut back because there are a lot of alternatives out there to access good content. ?? Archive.ph and the Wayback Machine offer screenshots of paywalled content if I'm really in a pinch.? I can't live without the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times, but I recently culled my Washington Post and Business Insider subscriptions, for example. I like those publications, but I'm spending too much on news as it is. ? I also have local newspaper subscriptions to keep up with things back home in Florida and here in Houston. Those cost about $100 a year apiece. ?? Back to my original question: will you pay for CNN.com? It's a great news site from a top brand, but are people willing to pay for it? Let me know in the poll below!????

Are you afraid of AI? ?? California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed an AI safety bill because the new rules would have "strangled innovation." Now, he's looking to pass a better bill. ?? Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the American economy, but there have been no serious efforts to regulate the technology at the federal level. ?????? California is home to about 70 percent of AI companies, so state-level regulation will have a huge impact on the industry. ??? AI is an amazing technology, but it doesn't come without risks. ?? Bias, job displacement, data privacy concerns, and existential risks if the technology gets out of control have all been mentioned by thought leaders like Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk. ?? Recent surveys show a narrow majority of people feel nervousness or unease about the increasing presence of AI. ?? An overwhelming majority in the same surveys expressed fear about AI spreading misinformation. ?? AI is the latest and greatest tool that makes our lives better--but is it something to be feared as well? Let me know in the poll below! ????

Would you let your kids play football? ?? American football is one of our country's favorite pastimes, but it's also one of the most hazardous sports for players. ?? Brett Favre shocked the world by announcing he has Parkinson's disease at a Congressional hearing. The disease likely has a connection to his football career. ?? Favre cited his history of concussions, which have been connected to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease that 1/3 of former players believe they have. ?? The NFL has paid more than $1 billion to more than a thousand former players who developed brain diseases.?? CTE is caused by repeated brain injuries, including concussions and other forms of head trauma. There is emerging evidence that CTE and other brain injuries can significantly increase the risk of developing Parkinson's later in life. ?? Recent studies show that approximately 50 percent of parents don't want their sons to play football. A wider majority typically doesn't want kids under 14 playing tackle football.??? Would you let your kids play football? Let me know in the poll below!????

Do you agree with plastic bag bans? ?? California has decided to do away with all plastic bags at grocery stores starting in 2026. ??? States that already have plastic bag bans include New York, New Jersey, Vermont, Maine, Delaware, Rhode Island, Colorado, Oregon, and Hawaii! ?? Plastic bags are tough and convenient, but the average grocery store distributes nearly 2,000,000 of these non-biodegradable, single-use items every year! ?? That adds up to 100 billion plastic bags ending up in landfills yearly. ??? In places around the world, disposable bags, in general, have become a thing of the past. ???? Mexico and Spain are two places I've been to this year where bags were a rare commodity. It's an expectation that you now bring your own reusable bag. ?? Countries around the world have banned single-use plastic bags. Bangladesh, Italy, China, Chile, UK, New Zealand, and Canada are all among the countries that don't allow these convenient sacks. ? Plastic accumulation in the environment is blamed for many problems and may even be affecting human health! ?? Still, many of us are nostalgic for when plastic bags made our shopping trips much easier. ?? How do you feel about plastic bag bans? Let me know in the poll below! ????

Three Mile Island, the nuclear power plant that had a meltdown in the late 1970s, is coming back online to help power Microsoft data centers that reflect the current AI revolution. ?? The AI boom is causing a surge in power usage during a time when America is trying to lower its carbon footprint. ??? Despite issues with nuclear accidents, radioactive waste, and high initial costs, nuclear power is an ideal solution to make sure our grid can keep up with surging demand without turning our backs on our pollution reduction goals. ? Nuclear power was expected to be a permanent solution to endless electricity until meltdowns like Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima changed many people's minds. ?? But as coal plants get shut down, natural gas and alternatives like solar and wind can only pick up so much slack. ?? Our power grid is already straining to keep up with current demand, and that demand will only keep rising as AI continues to redefine the American economy. ?? Do you support nuclear power? Or is it too risky to double down on a technology that can have serious and permanent impacts? Let me know in the poll below!????

Is public housing the answer to our housing crisis? ?? Two members of Congress are proposing that the U.S. government get back into the business of public housing-- something that hasn't been done since the late 1990s. ?? The proposed housing development authority would provide more than a million new homes, many of which would be for the lowest-income households in the nation. ?? Rents would be capped at 25 percent of a household's adjusted income forever. The plan is estimated to cost around $30 billion dollars annually. ??? The plan, currently being pushed by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Senator Tina Smith (D-MN), currently has a slim chance of being law.??? Still, this proposal marks the first time Congress is putting forth a plan to combat the home affordability crisis in recent memory. ?? Housing costs have increased dramatically in America and around the world as real estate has become increasingly "financialized and commoditized." ?? Draconian zoning laws have also restricted building in areas where demand is high. It's estimated that the U.S. is now short nearly five million housing units! ?? We still have not yet experimented with deregulation of zoning laws, but are now proposing government solutions. Maybe a mix of both is the answer??? Do you think that the government should get back into building public housing? Or is this a misguided effort? Let me know in the poll below! ???? Link to op-ed in the New York Times: https://archive.ph/EYSKk

Have you flown Alaska or Hawaiian Airlines? ?? Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines are merging after the Department of Transportation signed off on the deal. ? The same department recently rejected a JetBlue-Spirit Airlines merger, saying it would make the skies more uncompetitive. ?? Alaska and Hawaiian will maintain separate brands but operate as a single company. Together, this new combined airline will be the fifth largest in America--a position in the ranking Alaska alone was already occupying. ???? American Airlines, Delta, Southwest, and United--the top four airlines in America--control nearly 68 percent of our domestic market. ?? The remaining 32 percent is shared by smaller airlines like Alaska, JetBlue, Spirit, and Frontier. ?? But at certain airports, the big four airlines have established themselves as near-monopolies. ?? For instance, American Airlines controls 90 percent of the market share at the Charlotte Airport and 86 percent at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. ???? At the Atlanta Airport, Delta controls nearly 80 percent of the market share, and at the Houston Airport United controls nearly 70 percent of the market! ?? Mergers have created behemoth airlines that have unprecedented market power, but the average inflated-adjusted ticket price has remained at similar levels since 2000. ?? Airline consolidation has, however, devastated middle America by cutting routes. Former hubs such as Cincinnati, Cleveland, Memphis, and St. Louis have seen traffic drop to previously unimaginable levels. ?? Traffic at the Cincinnati Airport has come down from 22 million a year in 2000 to eight million in 2023! Similarly, traffic at the St. Louis airport is down by 50 percent since 2000. ?? Executives behind the combined Alaska-Hawaiian brand have promised to keep essential routes and plan no immediate changes. But, in the past airline mergers have led to significant route cuts that have devastated certain cities. ?? Have you flown Alaska or Hawaiian? Let me know in the poll below! ????

Do you have a Gen Z on your team? ?? Gen Z, born from the late 90s to early 2010s, is now about 14 percent of the labor force and rising. ?? A recent survey by Intelligent.com found that most executives making hiring decisions encountered issues with Gen Z hires. ?? These issues included lack of motivation, unprofessional behavior, subpar communication skills, hypersensitivity, tardiness, and missing work frequently. ?? The survey, covered by the New York Post, made for quite a headline. Still, virtually all companies are still hiring recent college graduates. ? Gen Z grew up in a very different environment than the Millennials (80s-90s), Gen X (60s-70s), or Baby Boomers (40s-60s). ? Rapid technological changes, including social media, evolving societal norms like cancel culture, and the rising expectation for constant work-life balance have all become mainstays of this generation. ?? Gen Zs aren't all a mess, as many of them are the brightest and most prepared people ever to enter the workforce. ?? Gen Z is on track to be the most educated generation in American history. They are also digital natives, meaning they can adapt to new technology far faster than previous generations. ?????? I have hired and dealt with many Gen Zs. If they have good social skills and reasonable expectations, they tend to be among the best workers out there! ?? Do you have a Gen Z on your team? Let me know in the poll below!???? Intelligent.com survey: https://shorturl.at/VDLkm New York Post Article: https://shorturl.at/fbEiX