Weekend Digest: The ‘Miracle-Gro’ for pot, tense Trump meeting, and Australian slang edition

TV PREVIEW
On this week’s TV edition of Talk Business & Politics, which airs Sundays at 9:30 a.m. on KATV Channel 7 in Central Arkansas and in Northeast Arkansas on KAIT-NBC, Sundays at 10 a.m.:

Arkansas Traveler
Gov. Asa Hutchinson responds to the violent shootings in Minnesota, Baton Rouge and Dallas. He’s also headed for Europe, then to the national GOP convention. What business and politics can we expect over the next two weeks?

Talk Politics
We cap off a busy week of hyperpartisan political warfare: Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, the FBI investigation, Congressional hearings. Our Talk Politics roundtable includes TB&P contributors Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Michael Cook.

Inside the Numbers
We’ll go inside the numbers for three big numbers that mattered this week. Plus, we’ll recap our daily digital newscasts and tell you what you may have missed, and we’ll look forward to the week ahead.

Tune in to Talk Business & Politics in Central Arkansas on KATV Channel 7, Sundays at 9:30 a.m. and in Northeast Arkansas on KAIT-NBC, Sundays at 10 a.m.

CANNIBAS CAPITALIST
You fertilize your flowers and plants with it for fantastic healthy growth, so why wouldn’t it have the same effect for pot growers? That’s what Scotts Miracle-Gro CEO Jim Hagedorn is gambling on. $400 million to be exact. But the huge investment into the pot growing business is more than just Miracle-Gro products.

“No one has a better perspective on the lawn and garden business than Hagedorn, who, after watching his father build Miracle-Gro into a national brand, orchestrated its merger with Scotts in 1995 and took over as CEO of the combined company in 2001. Scotts Miracle-Gro, which makes almost all of its money selling grass seed, fertilizer, pesticide and dirt, boosted revenues 80% from 2001 to 2009, riding on the coattails of Home Depot, Lowe’s and Wal-Mart as the retailers built more than 3,000 big boxes across the country.”

But then the Great Recession hit, and the rapid expansion stalled. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s sales have been stagnant ever since. That hit home for Hagedorn and his family, who collectively own a 27% stake that makes up $1.1 billion of their nearly $1.5 billion fortune. Frustrated with the flatlining business, Hagedorn fired more than half his management, shook up his board and gambled heavily on pot growers.

Find out what over-the-top direction Hagedorn took his company at this link from Forbes.

NEW REGULATIONS ON OVERTIME ‘A MAJOR WIN FOR WORKERS’
“The Obama Administration called a new Labor Department regulation on overtime a major win for workers, but it has some companies declaring they will change their business models to reduce payroll costs,” reports Marketplace.

The new regulation goes into effect Dec. 1, and not only will affect hourly workers, but salaried employees as well.

There are two ways to become eligible for overtime. Being paid hourly wages. But employers often get out of paying it by classifying workers as salaried managers. Or earn less than a specified amount. Before, a manager at a Walgreens making more than $23,660 wasn’t eligible for overtime. As a result, those employees were often given more work because it was, essentially, already paid for.

Now, that salary threshold will double, to $47,476. For more on this story and what businesses may do to counter this costly new regulation, go here.

BREXIT AND CHOCOLATE PRICES AND BANK JOBS
“The first signs of Brexit’s direct impact on people’s lives is beginning to show just two weeks after the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union:

• The pound hit a new 31-year low yesterday against the dollar of $1.27. The pound had been $1.50 against the dollar before Brexit. Analysts are saying that the pound could reach parity with the dollar by next year, reports Reuters.

• France has now overtaken Britain as the world’s fifth largest economy, says Reuters.

• £18 billion of U.K. property funds have been frozen due to too many investors trying to take their money out of seven property funds, reports Reuters.

But what about chocolate, bank jobs and the price of computers? Fast Company looks into the effect of Brexit on these and many more at this link.

HOW TO KNOW WHICH DIGITAL TRENDS ARE WORTH CHASING
Harvard Business Review says, “The rapid pace of digital change has put companies in the unenviable position of trying to decide which tech trends to invest in and when.”

“All too often, much-touted ‘revolutionary’ innovations offer only incremental benefits at best; at worst, they are a costly distraction. The right technologies, however, can be incredibly valuable, driving customer satisfaction and possibly even providing a sustainable competitive advantage.”

So how will you recognize a true digital differentiator when you see it? Generally, it will do one or more of the following: eliminate customer pain points, elevate customer service, or create a differentiated, personalized customer experience. Let’s take a closer look at each.

Learn more at this link.

A HEDGE FUND EMPLOYEE PREPS THE FBI DIRECTOR FOR THE HOT SEAT
POLITICO Magazine says, “FBI Director James Comey is about to discover whether Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the 49-year-old Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, can be scarier than a 25-year-old employee of the world’s largest hedge fund. Comey, who delivered his political bombshell on Tuesday that the FBI wouldn’t recommend an indictment of Hillary Clinton, would probably argue no.”

“Even after weeks of statements from Republican leaders and conservative media figures that they trusted Comey to conduct an impartial and independent investigation into Clinton’s emails and would respect whatever his decision ended up being, it took just hours after his 11 a.m. news conference before critical questions began flying.”

But POLITICO Magazine says the former prosecutor and “Washington political in-fighter” can handle it. Especially after dealing with that “25-year-old employee of the world’s largest hedge fund.”

Follow this link for the full story.

TRUMP HAS TENSE MEETING WITH SENATE REPUBLICANS
The Washington Post reports, “Donald Trump’s private meeting Thursday with Senate Republicans – designed to foster greater party unity ahead of the national convention in Cleveland – grew combative as the presumptive presidential nominee admonished three senators who have been critical of his candidacy and predicted they would lose their reelection bids, according to two Republican officials with direct knowledge of the exchanges.”

Trump’s most tense exchange was with Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who has been vocal in his concerns about the business mogul’s candidacy, especially his rhetoric and policies on immigration that the senator argues alienate many Latino voters and others in Arizona.

When Flake stood up and introduced himself, Trump told him, “You’ve been very critical of me.”

“Yes, I’m the other senator from Arizona – the one who didn’t get captured – and I want to talk to you about statements like that,” Flake responded, according to two Republican officials.

What did Flake mean, and who else did Trump call out? Follow this link for details.

DEMOCRATS PLAN EARLY ATTACKS TYING GOP CANDIDATES TO TRUMP
“Aiming to exploit Mr. Trump’s drastic unpopularity with swing voters, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will spend over $1 million on advertisements casting the Republican Party as wholly defined by Mr. Trump,” says The New York Times.

The attacks, set to air on cable television and online, are an unusually early effort to nationalize the battle for control of Congress. They target 10 incumbent Republican lawmakers in areas where Mr. Trump is expected to run poorly, including Denver, San Antonio and the Chicago suburbs.

Go to this link to learn what the ads will say and which Republicans are “under fire.”

HISTORIC ELECTION IN ROME
“Rome has elected its first female mayor in 2,800 years. Once seen as a protest party, Virginia Raggi’s ‘Five Star Movement’ says it’s ready to rule,” reports The NewDaily.

At just 37 years old, lawyer Virginia Raggi has taken up the helm of one of the world’s oldest cities and pledged to fix its most enduring issues.

And in case being a young woman wasn’t trailblazing enough, Raggi is also a member of one of Italy’s more intriguing political parties: the ‘anti-corruption’ Five Star Movement.

Learn more about Raggi, her party and her political quest to clean up the city at this link.

MOST ICONIC OLYMPIC ADS
CNN Money posts, “From Nike’s ambush campaign in 2012 to Under Armour’s last ad with Michael Phelps, these are some of the most iconic Olympics commercials from over the years.”

They will bring back memories and get you pumped for the approaching Summer Games in Rio.

View them at this link.

HOW GIPHY BECAME THE INTERNET’S GO-TO GIF BRAND
If you don’t know, what is a gif?

Entrepreneur posts, “For the uninitiated: You’ve seen a gif before. It’s a looping image used across the internet – the thing that isn’t quite a video, that has no play button and no sound, that repeats until you look away.”

It’s lingua franca on social media. It’s on the New York Times homepage. It is silly and rudimentary and yet widely beloved, emailed and texted alongside emojis and emoticons. The gif’s inventor, Steve Wilhite, insists it is pronounced “jif,” like the peanut butter, but don’t you dare say it that way. The internet at large uses a hard g, like “gift.” Case closed.

Giphy has a big idea: It wants to be the brand that owns the gif – that becomes synonymous not simply with a particular product or service but with the digital thing itself. Crazy? Maybe. It’s certainly an enormous branding challenge.

What’s its plan? Get the scoop on Giphy by clicking here.

DEFINING AUSTRALIAN SLANG
Did you ever scratch your head in a complete void over Australian slang words like “chunder”?

Well, Vanity Fair Video has your fix with the expert help of actress Margot Robbie.

The Suicide Squad star knows the difference between “chunders” and “chucking a sickie,” and now you will too.

In under four minutes no less, here.