Pop Trends Price Culture

Jane Jacobs saw a solution when nobody else even saw a problem. The problem she saw was, planners and architects and master builders of her day held fatally flawed assumptions about human behavior -- that the way people in cities live is perfectly rational and efficient and chaos-free. And that is why their urban renewal projects were destructive. Their model was all wrong. Does this sound familiar? It should for anyone who took economics 101...

One of the greatest and most influential "David vs. Goliath" stories in 20th century America is all but unknown these days. An obscure, apparently ill-equipped female went up against the man who may be history's most prolific developer. This is episode one of a two-episode story about their decade-long battle.

We are watching the past become the present right before our eyes. It may not LOOK that way, but make no mistake: It's happening. Pop Trends, Price Culture shows three ways Donald Trump is upholding presidential tradition, abnormally.

What was the most successful medical program in human history? Here's a hint: It began with a counterintuitive, non-linear solution. Yet, social mood at present suggests that counterintuitive thinking is short supply, in helping to solve a current, huge health crisis.

This past week in the news has been like 40 gallons of crazy compressed into a 20-gallon tank. It's too much to keep up with. It's like you want to slap the next person who says "I've never seen this before," except … you keep hearing yourself say that. Consider the role of social mood, and the idea that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."

The public loves portrayals of vigilante justice. Memorable vigilantes are sometimes a ‘good guy,’ other times they are … something else. Why? Where did those characters come from? Are there ever ‘good guy’ vigilantes in the real world? These great questions get great answers in this episode of Pop Trends, Prices Culture.

It's easy to ignore information that contradicts what you think you know. Yet it's hard later on to find out that the information was right -- and that you were mistaken. We've all been there, and most of us try to learn from our mistakes. But: you can't say that you're "learning from a mistake" if you have information you know is correct and choose to ignore it…

In February 2004, Robert Folsom wrote a column that was published by a major news site. Yes that was 13 years ago, but, in recent months, the subject of that column has become more relevant than ever. For this episode of Pop Trends, Price Culture, Folsom reads that old column, word for word, exactly as published in 2004. It still speaks for itself.

Some Presidential scandals change history. Others are minor & don't involve the White House directly. But whether large or small, when the scandal s**t hits the fan, the president ends up 'wearing it' in some way. The real question is: "How much political and/or personal damage does it do to the president?"

Immigration policy has been an epic contradiction all thru U.S. history. America is “a nation of immigrants,” yet major political trends in American frequently include outbursts of anti-immigration sentiment. Pop Trends, Price Culture offers a way to un-puzzle this issue – including recent-cases-in-point – via the clarity that comes with understanding social mood.

The Socionomic Theory of Finance presents the years-long work of Robert Prechter. Yet the book also includes 21 essays on socionomics from 12 other scholars, writers, researchers and analysts. That's exactly how a far-reaching new theory of finance should develop.

This episode of Pop Trends, Price Culture is part two of our January 27 "3 Microphones" discussion, with T.R., Alan Hall, and Robert Folsom.

In our first ever 3-microphone episode, Alan Hall, Senior Analyst for The Socionomist, joins Robert Folsom and T.R. for an open discussion of social mood, politics, and the "peaceful" transfer of power in Washington D.C.

We're in uncharted territory. Donald Trump has defied political history at every turn. But, does history become irrelevant just because you're in uncharted territory? Water is still wet in uncharted territory, and if you cut yourself you'll probably still bleed. A real honeymoon means a happy couple -- and Donald Trump hasn't done much to make his bride -- namely the public -- happy. She's being dragged along kicking and screaming...

Lots of critics say television has been in a second "Golden Era." But truth be told, the phrase 'Dark Golden Era' describes it better -- because the best shows in the past 15 years have indeed been a deep shade of "dark gold."  Listen in and hear Robert Folsom's four top nominees for the best and most conspicuously negative shows since 1999 (yes, including Game of Thrones). 

The 'Rural Purge' of the 1970-1971 season changed television forever -- it was fast, dramatic and revolutionary, yet it's all but unknown today. This historic transformation reveals an influence more powerful than historians and sociologists can ever discern.

It had been a bear market for a lot of years. The headlines were a parade of scary bad news. People were so polarized that fan groups began to hate on each another's music -- hostility so strong that it became its own trend. Then, an episode of this negative mood literally exploded its way into America's National Pastime: Namely, in the outfield between games of a double header.

Political language is front & center today, more so than at any time in decades. News or fake news, plus liars, lies, damned lies and statistics, have blurred the line between fact, opinion, and shameless BS. This episode excerpts an essay that could not be more relevant. It's from a time when social mood was recognizably similar to our own: Polarization ran deep, all disagreements were politicized, fear of "The Other" ran rampant. People felt threatened by certain ideologies. Listen for yourself to just how familiar it sounds...

RCA had an unrivaled influence on 20th century entertainment technologies -- it was the path to stardom for dozens of performers in both the Golden Age of Radio and Television. Yet, RCA share price never truly caught up to 1929. What's the lesson? Listen in to Pop Trends, Price Culture discover why.

Earlier this week, we went to Google News and searched for "Trump market rally." Listen in and hear about a few of the headlines that popped up -- plus, how those headlines contrast with headlines from 8 years ago. That and more in the latest episode of Pop Trends, Price Culture.

It was a long time ago, but not so far away: A great historian's timeless essay defined an ugly black thread that is embedded in the fabric of U.S. history. "The Paranoid Style in American Politics" proved so insightful that it anticipated the tragi-farce spectacle known as the election of 2016, fifty-plus years ago. Hear it for yourself in this episode of Pop Trends, Price Culture.

If you watched the three presidential debates, maybe you thought to yourself, "I wish I could ask a question." Robert Folsom sure did. And he knows what his question would have been. In this episode of Pop Trends, Price Culture he recreates what that exchange might have sounded like.

If Pop Trends, Price Culture is still an active podcast during the NEXT presidential election cycle, we are definitely going to replay today's episode at the right time in the year 2020. Because what we say now will be even more true of the incumbent candidate then. Listen in, and you'll "get it" as we go…

"My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over." Well, almost over. That comment is from Gerald Ford on August 9, 1974, after he was sworn in as President upon the resignation of Richard Nixon. At the risk of melodrama, I invoke that famous quote because Ford meant to capture the emotional toll on America that attended the ouster of a sitting president. In 2016, we've suffered through a trauma simply to get a president elected. In other news, please listen on to hear mood at work in Zika guidelines, the Battle for Mosul, and, of course, in various other themes from the 2016 election cycle.

Money. Politics. The media. Plus, subplots that include narcissism, greed, betrayal and sex scandals. Of course these issues lead today's news, yet this episode of Pop Trends, Price Culture offers hard evidence that this election cycle amounts to life imitating art from 75 years ago.

More than a half-dozen U.S. states have made it mandatory in elementary schools, and 40 more states may do likewise. Have you heard what's on the leading edge of instigating the "Return to Basics"? (hint: ink stains…)

Master political infighter. Student of human weakness. Bureaucrat supreme. Brilliant Machiavellian schemer. And, "American History's Greatest One-Man Barometer of Social Mood." Discover who this person was -- through a socionomic lens.

Immigration policy has been an epic contradiction all thru U.S. history. America is “a nation of immigrants,” yet major political trends in American frequently include outbursts of anti-immigration sentiment. Pop Trends, Price Culture offers a way to un-puzzle this issue – including recent-cases-in-point – via the clarity that comes with understanding social mood.

Which "unusual" category had three books climb to Amazon's list of 10 best-selling books in 2015? Hint: The last time anything like this happened, John F. Kennedy was in the White House and Barbara Streisand had a weird, sappy hit about these very kind of books…

It's easy to think that financial and social manias are fueled only by the unsophisticated and gullible crowd. Yet, please allow us to introduce you to the pseudoscience of Eugenics. That is the trend we discussed in our previous episode.

This is one person's story. An anecdote. So why tell it? Because, this story personifies a trend that was much, much larger. What trend is that? Listen in to part one of the two-part tale.

What is the most common activity in America that gets citizens arrested? It's a serious question. As you think about an answer, think also about how serious an arrest record is. It follows you like a brand to the forehead. It makes it harder to be employed, get an education, or get credit. You know, the stuff you need to have a life...

Does news coverage of "threats" help you know what the threats really are? How DO you think about real vs. perceived threats -- to your safety, health, and life? And, what the heck do bookmakers have to do with these questions? Check out this episode of Pop Trends, Price Culture for the answers.

Why are so many people are playing Pokémon Go? For starters, it's lighthearted fun. Catching Pokémon is kind of like when you chased fireflies as a kid -- they're cool. You want to catch 'em, not kill 'em. And, hordes of Millennials are playing Pokémon Go out of nostalgia: They grew up on Pokémon and now it's on their single-most indispensable device -- the cell phone. Less obvious is the peer pressure -- which is a watered down way of describing social mood. Yes, I'm going there. And I can credibly say that we started "going there" with Pokémon back in 1999...

There's an old saying in war and in politics: "Never interrupt your opponent when he's destroying himself." Yet the two major-party candidates can't even follow that simple wisdom -- which is one of the many reasons we explore, Why People Keep Asking, "Is This 1968?"

Even hard-core political junkies have labored to keep up with the 2016 election headlines. Yet in the onslaught of news, there is a huge untold story: Social mood is depopulating the two major political parties…

Before the moral panics that tried to stamp out rock-n-roll, video game violence and satanic ritual abuse, came the first -- and most successful -- crusade to stop the "Seduction of the Innocent." The fact that most people don't know about it tells you just how effective it was… 

If a nation can have a bad week, then the week beginning Sunday June 12 was pretty awful. We all know about the mass shooting in Orlando. Yet what followed only made things worse. The murder of 49 people has been grotesquely politicized -- far MORE politicized than in any instance of a mass shooting. Pop Trends Price Culture considers, "Why?"

In the 20th century or any other, there's never been a one-man intersection of sports, politics and pop culture, the way we witnessed in Muhammad Ali. Yet this podcast is not mere tribute. We do have something to add, a relevant context to the epic and very public life that Ali lived. And I may as well take the risk of saying that our observation is one you won't hear elsewhere...

Can you name the MOST authoritarian government document in U.S. history? A Pulitzer Prize winning author described it as a plan "for America's intelligence services ... to monitor the communications of American citizens, intensify the electronic surveillance of dissidents, read their mail, burglarize their homes and offices, and step up undercover spying." Pop Trends, Price Culture connects the dots from the 1960s to the 1970s and to our day.

Who's America's biggest political bully of the past 70 years? That's the question -- so discover how your (elected politician only) answer compares to the person we describe in this episode of Pop Trends, Price Culture.

What kind of scenario "leads to a multi-decade setback or dissolution" of one of the major political parties? From the top down and the bottom up, the answer is unfolding right before our eyes. Listen to the big picture story.

After the long-term stock market low in late 1974, positive social mood slowly began to build. Cultural evidence of the positive turn became visible in the success of great black comedians on stage, in film, and on television. Our friend Dr. Dennis Elam delivers part two of the story.

You know their names -- Pryor, Cosby, Eddie Murphy and more -- the great black comedians of the past 50 years. Yet you may not realize how these great comic voices were also the "audio track" for the trends and turns in social mood across the decades. Our friend Dr. Dennis Elam tells the story.

It was the one year in the 20th century that the United States population actually decreased in size. Several mood-driven events intersected to create a catastrophic outcome. The question is, what have we learned?...

It's easy to ignore information that contradicts what you think you know. Yet it's hard later on to find out that the information was right -- and that you were mistaken. We've all been there -- and most of us try to learn from our mistakes. But, you can't say that you're "learning from a mistake" if you have information you know is correct and choose to ignore it…

Who actually tries to get away with making the most outrageous and extreme comments in public? No, not professional wrestlers. The answer is, “Aspirants to the Oval Office.” Pop Trends, Price Culture explained why the Stupid Season of presidential politics arrived nearly a year and a half ahead of schedule.

We survey history's greatest horror films across the decades, and WHY they so often cluster during stock market declines. It's no coincidence. And don't miss the exquisitely done chart that brings the "why" to life visually, on the show notes page.

Alastair Macdonald has a pretty cool resume: Successful business owner, stockbroker on Wall Street, and a real estate investor. Yet he was born & raised in Zimbabwe, so before his career in finance he was a professional hunter and safari guide -- including leading a National Geographic film crew on a safari on the Zambezi River. Alastair has had amazing success using socionomics to anticipate major trend changes: This episode is a preview of what he'll have to say as a speaker at our Social Mood conference this coming April 9th in Atlanta.

The FBI knew who it was up against: Apple is a beloved and admired tech company, with hundreds of millions of loyal users. So, the FBI waited until it had a high-profile, clear-cut case of appalling terrorism to make its move. But what the FBI didn't foresee is just how anti-authoritarian Apple was (and is) prepared to be. 

The 2016 presidential race had already become the most fractious since 1968, yet in the days immediately following Super Tuesday (March 1) this election cycle mutated from a semi-amusing food fight amongst the candidates, and into an epic mood-driven political showdown. Hear the latest on Pop Trends, Price Culture.