Recent Business Commentaries

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Let’s Talk About Football
Let me say at the outset that I’m not going to win friends or influence many people with this commentary. Football . . . is a beautiful game. With the unexpected death of Pittsburgh Steelers Franco Harris last month, the media refreshed all our memories of “The Immaculate Reception,” the play that not only defined Harris but remains one of...
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January 6, 2023
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What Was Good About 2022
Two Scientific Milestones – With the increasing threat of global warming the news that scientists were able to successfully create nuclear fusion that would produce more energy than it would cost is a remarkable breakthrough. “Scientists studying fusion energy at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California announced on Tuesday that they had crossed a long-awaited milestone in reproducing the power...
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January 3, 2023
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Truth Be Told
On any given day, I can drive around the small town where I live and easily see two-dozen or more individuals on cell phones. Some are on a call, some texting, tweeting, Facebooking, or just plain surfing. All of us appear to be spliced to our phones. I’ll come back to this later. Elon Musk is the man who gave...
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December 13, 2022
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No Magic in Florida
For decades, Florida’s Walt Disney World has been spreading joy and magic to billions who visit from around the world. And for decades, the Disney organization has pretty much remained politically neutral. Now, however, the “Most Magical Place on Earth,” has become yet another political battlefield. It all began when Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, signed HB 1557 into law. As...
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April 22, 2022
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What Happens When Enough People Are Fed Enough False Information?
In Michael Morell’s 2015 book, The Great War of Our Time, the former CIA deputy director begins with a stunning statement: “the threat of terrorism did not die with Bin Ladin in Abbottabad,” and, left unchecked, is the greatest threat to America. It’s an extraordinary book with details and insight that are both overwhelmingly thought-provoking and frightening. However, when misinformation...
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December 14, 2021
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How Do We Fix Facebook? – Part 2
Easier said than done. However, Frances Haugen, the former Facebook data scientist who came forward with thousands of internal documents to back up her claims that the engagement-based algorithms created by the tech giant are used to deepen “divides, destabilize democracies, and make young girls and women feel bad about their bodies,” has been in talks with the House Judiciary...
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October 22, 2021
How Do We Fix Facebook?
Embed from Getty Images Facebook is optimizing “content that gets engagement, a reaction, but its own research is showing that content that is hateful, that is divisive, that is polarizing, it’s easier to inspire people to anger than it is to other emotions.” Haugen, a former data scientist who worked for Facebook, came forward with thousands of documents that show...
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October 19, 2021
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That’s Their Mindset
What do these four things have in common: money, status, power and politics? “Gamal Abdelaziz, a former hotel and casino executive is accused of paying $300,000 to get his daughter admitted to the University of Southern California as a basketball player based on false qualifications. “John Wilson, a private equity executive, is accused of paying $220,000 to get his son...
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October 12, 2021
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The Insiders
Jeffrey Wigand and Frances Haugen have two things in common. Both blew the whistle on impropriety within their respective companies, and both appeared on the news show, 60 Minutes to tell their stories. At the social media company, Facebook, Haugen—with a degree in computer engineering, and a master’s degree in business from Harvard—has 15 years experience in the computer world...
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October 8, 2021
What’s the Truth About Georgia’s New Election Law?
Embed from Getty Images “I’m telling you the truth about this bill,” Georgia’s Governor Brian Kemp tells Atlanta’s NPR affiliate. “It expands access.” You can fool all the people some of the time… “After the November election last year, I knew,” Kemp said, “like so many of you, that significant reforms to our state elections were needed.” And some of...
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April 7, 2021