Weekend Digest: The Bot economy growth, ‘Deplorables’ response and Dwight Yoakam does Prince 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.:

Congress Returns

Sen. John Boozman discusses his legislative agenda for the rest of the year, plus thoughts on jobs and the economy and a discussion on debates.

Pure Politics

In our political roundtable, Skip Rutherford, dean of the Clinton School of Public Service, and John Burris, Talk Business & Politics contributor, are our guests. What’s their take on this week on the Presidential campaign trail?

Inside the Numbers

Plus, we’ll run through the week in business by going inside the numbers. New jobs, health care, manufacturing and more.

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.

THE BOT ECONOMY IS GROWING EVEN FASTER THAN THE APP ECONOMY DID
“Move over apps, it’s time for the bots to shine,” reports Bloomberg.

“A new note from Citigroup Inc. highlights just how much faster the bot economy is growing than the app economy did in its early days. According to analyst Mark May, mobile app stores alone generate roughly $40 billion in bookings annually, without even taking into account other revenue from such things as mobile marketing and advertising. A new opportunity is arising, however, as bots become more and more present in many of these platforms.”

“Moves by players like Facebook to increasingly commercialize its Messenger platform and Apple’s recent announcement that it will launch an app/bot store specifically for iMessenger with the launch of iOS10 point to a possible momentum shift in the mobile landscape from The App Economy to The Bot Economy,” May writes. He adds that “there is significant potential for bots to become an everyday-technology,” not unlike the ubiquitous apps on all our phones.

For more on the new-wave of bots, click on this link.

HOW SENIOR EXECUTIVES FIND TIME TO BE CREATIVE
“The number-one attribute CEOs look for in their incoming workforce (according to an IBM survey of more than 1,500 CEOs across 33 industries and 60 countries) is not discipline, integrity, intelligence, or emotional intelligence. It’s creativity,” says Harvard Business Review.

After all, every company wants to be at the forefront of its industry and on the cutting edge of innovation. And for that, you need highly creative employees.

“While much of the advice on becoming more creative is known, what’s harder to figure out is how busy executives actually find time to put it into practice. To find out, I spoke to some of the most innovative leaders across key industries, from technology to consulting to manufacturing. Here’s what they said.”

TRUMP ORGANIZATION’S FOREIGN BUSINESS TIES AND NATIONAL SECURITY
“Trump’s global deals would make it impossible for him to conduct foreign policy in many countries without padding or depleting his wallet,” posts Newsweek.

Newsweek’s Kurt Eichenwald reported today that there is a direct financial conflict between the interests of the Trump Organization in countries such as Turkey, Russia and India, and the interests of American national security.

He reports that there is no evidence of any illegal activity by the Trump Organization, but the conflicts could be an issue if Trump is elected president. The Trump campaign is criticizing Eichenwald’s reporting.

“Eichenwald joins Here & Now’s Robin Young to discuss whether a President Trump’s decisions would be based on what’s best for Trump’s company, or the country.”

Find out more here.

PRESTIGE CREDIT CARDS ARE A BIG HIT WITH MILLENNIALS
“The Chase Sapphire Reserve card was so popular out of the gate, that the company ran out of the metal alloy used to make the cards. People are even uploading unboxing videos to YouTube. The cards have become a viral phenomenon of sorts, thanks in part to effusive praise from travel sites and bloggers.”

So, what’s going on? Well, for one, Chase has a pretty attractive sign-on bonus — 100,000 points worth up to $1,500 in free travel, a benefit really popular among young people who tend to favor experiential purchases over status.

“Those cards aren’t for everybody. I personally would never spend $450 for an annual fee for a credit card,” said Bill Hardekopf, CEO of Lowcards.com, a consumer site for credit cards.

So what else is so appealing to millennials? Find out at this link.

DON’T ASSUME THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE WILL SAVE CLINTON
“The race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump has tightened. Clinton, whose lead over Trump exceeded 8 percentage points at her peak following the Democratic convention, is ahead by 4 or 5 percentage points today, according to our polls-only forecast,” reports Five Thirty Eight.

“The tighter margins in the polls, which reflect a loss of support for Clinton along with a modest improvement for Trump, have come gradually over the past few weeks. The evidence of a tightening has become more widespread, however, and it’s particularly clear in polls that surveyed the race just after the conventions and are retaking its temperature now. Fox News’s national poll, for instance, had Clinton up by 9 points just after the conventions (in the version of the poll that included third-party candidates) and has her up by 2 points now.”

Most importantly, Clinton is still ahead, with a 74 percent chance of winning according to the polls-only model and a 70 percent chance according to polls-plus.

But what if the race continues to tighten? I’ve often heard Democrats express a belief that Clinton’s position in the swing states will protect her in the Electoral College even if the race draws to a dead heat overall. But this is potentially mistaken. Although it’s plausible that Clinton’s superior field operation will eventually pay dividends, so far her swing state results have ebbed and flowed with her national numbers.

For the complete story dial-up this link.

TRUMP’S POLL NUMBERS SHOW HIS CEILING IS MADE OF STEEL, NOT GLASS
“After being around politics for 40 years, very little surprises me, except when it comes to polls. Every time I think that political analysts and writers will finally recognize that most of them don’t understand much about political polls, they prove me wrong. They don’t know how to read them, they don’t understand the importance of cross tabs within a given poll and they don’t know how to analyze them, posts The Hill.

This wouldn’t be a bad thing if they were just trying to show their political props to friends, but some of these “political pros” go on TV, or write columns interpreting polls for millions of voters who are just now beginning to focus on the presidential race. Most voters assume because these political “pros” are on TV or write for national papers they know politics. Sadly, most don’t have a clue.

“An analysis of the data from several reliable polls indicates Trump has not moved up in the polls for the last six weeks, despite showing some signs of discipline; “New Trump team repositions Trump as ‘presidential’ and the strategy, according to polls, is paying off”. A review of polls from two weeks before Paul Manafort (Trump’s former campaign chairman) resigned last month indicates no positive movement for Trump since his new team was named.”

If you find that analysis surprising, then you need to read the rest of this eyebrow-raising post at this link.

HERE’S A NSFW WAY FOR THE MEDIA TO FACT-CHECK THE CANDIDATES
Just for fun, imagine that the following happened at last week’s Commander In Chief military forum, broadcast on NBC: “I was totally against the war in Iraq,”Donald Trump says. Matt Lauer, the moderator, drops a “F— You!” to the shocked candidate, explaining to Trump and the crowd that the only pre-war public statement from Trump shows otherwise: In September 2002, before the war, Howard Stern asked Trump if he supported invading Iraq, and Trump said, “Yeah, I guess so.”

“That confrontation may seem far-fetched and crass, but this election seems to call urgently for the media’s application of the “F.U.” rule. It’s not my rule — but a rule, with the letters spelled out, made famous by the man who helped launch the craft beer movement in America: Boston Beer and Samuel Adams co-founder Jim Koch.”

“As Koch writes in his recent book, Quench Your Own Thirst, the rule is “basically just a restatement of the Bible’s Golden Rule … ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’” But, instead of just niceties, Koch believes the Golden Rule means people have an obligation to “tell you the truth about what they’re thinking, even if it’s disturbing.” According to Koch, at Boston Beer, the rule has bolstered direct communication and accountability.”

Truth and accountability — just what this election desperately needs.

More at this link.

HOW CLINTON’S ALLIES ARE EMBRACING HER MISTAKE
“Top Hillary Clinton backers want to know what percentage of Donald Trump’s supporters will he concede are deplorable — 20 percent? 10? How about just David Duke?”, reports POLITICO.

Forget Clinton’s apology for casting half of her opponent’s supporters into a “basket of deplorables.” Now her team is looking to own this.

How so? Click here for the strategy.

HEAR DWIGHT YOAKAM PUT BLUEGRASS SPIN ON PRINCE’S PURPLE RAIN
“In April of this year, Dwight Yoakam and his band spent four days in a recording studio, working up 13 tracks for Swimmin’ Pools, Movie Stars…, his upcoming album featuring bluegrass renderings of some of the Kentucky native’s best-known tunes. But on the third day, the album took an unexpected turn as Yoakam – and the rest of the world – learned of the death of music icon Prince. In a spontaneous expression of grief, Yoakam and his fellow musicians cut a grassy, upbeat version of “Purple Rain,” replacing the blazing guitar work with fiddle, mandolin but retaining the same youthful spirit with which Prince had imbued the original,” reports Rolling Stone.

“The melody can haunt you,” the country star says of the late icon’s classic.

Have a listen here.

THE BASIC LAWS OF HUMAN STUPIDITY
Once again one of our favorite sites strikes gold.

“In the early 1600s, pioneering astronomer Johannes Kepler put forth his three laws of planetary motion, which, for the first time, provided an accurate and evidence-based description of the movement of the Solar System’s planets around the Sun. By the end of the century, Isaac Newton followed Kepler’s example with three laws of his own, describing the relationship between an object and the forces acting on it, thus laying the foundations for classical mechanics. Almost exactly three hundred years later, Carlo M. Cipolla, a professor of economic history at the University of California – Berkeley, introduced a set of laws no less revelatory than those of Kepler or Newton: The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity.”

While these laws are not taught in grade school, they do hold lessons worthy of reflection in this modern era. Stupidity today is on display more than ever before — on TV, YouTube, and the city streets you frequent each and every day. To better react to and avoid such dimwitted behavior, one must first understand it. Cipolla’s insightful set of five laws is a helpful guide.

Strike gold at this link from Real Clear Science.

HAVE A DRINK
Of real good Kentucky bourbon, that is, right where it’s made at Jim Beam’s flagship distillery.

“The bar’s open at Jim Beam’s flagship distillery, where some customers shared a round with the great-grandson of the brand’s namesake,” reports ABC News.

The world’s largest bourbon producer is among distilleries tapping into a new Kentucky law aimed at building on the state’s burgeoning bourbon tourism. The law allows adult visitors to sip cocktails and purchase larger amounts of whiskey during distillery tours.

“Since the law took effect in July, at least 15 distilleries — mostly small, craft producers — have obtained licenses to offer by-the-drink sales, said Kentucky Distillers’ Association President Eric Gregory.”

“This will put bourbon tourism on steroids,” he said. “If we were ever going to reach our potential … we needed these reforms.”

Have a sip, by clicking here.