Category Archives: Business and economics

How close to sci-fi fears is AI ‘reality’?

By Steve Brawner, © 2023 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

In the movie “The Terminator,” released in 1984, director James Cameron and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger introduced the idea that mankind might invent a computer network so intelligent – “Skynet,” it was called – that it would decide humanity is a threat that must be destroyed.

It’s looking less and less like science fiction and more and more like a warning.

According to a New York Times report, Geoffrey Hinton, the so-called “godfather of artificial intelligence” who recently retired from Google, is warning of the increasingly imminent dangers of the technology he helped develop. 

“I thought it was 30 to 50 years or even longer away,” he told the Times. “Obviously, I no longer think that.”

Continue reading →

A good economy, or a debt-driven one?

By Steve Brawner, © 2020 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

If I gave you a lot of money, would that improve your personal economy this year? Sure.

But what if I merely loaned it to you – with interest? If you spent the money without making wise investments, you’d see an immediate improvement. You can live great on borrowed money for a while.

But over time, your standard of living would suffer. The burdens of living beyond your means would become a weight upon your shoulders. You would become dependent on further loans. And then one day, it all might come crashing down around you.

What applies to households applies to nations. You’ve probably heard that the unemployment rate is hanging around 3.5% nationally and in Arkansas. Jobs are plentiful, inflation is under control, and times are good.

But how much of this prosperity is real, and how much is merely borrowed? And what will happen when the bills come due? Continue reading →

Not for Trump, but here’s where he’s right

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Let’s start with some transparency: In 2016, I voted enthusiastically for Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the Republican presidential primary and then voted for Evan McMullin in the general election because he was the best alternative to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. I don’t want President Trump to be re-elected (but also don’t support impeachment) and am hoping a credible third party candidate emerges before next November.

I said “hoping,” not “holding my breath.”

But not being a Trump supporter shouldn’t blind anyone to ways his presidency has benefitted America, particularly this: He has challenged some assumptions about trade that needed to be challenged.

For decades, the consensus among political elites has been that trade is a good thing, and it has been. It has lifted millions worldwide from poverty, reduced the chance for conflict with rivals, and introduced free markets and the concept of freedom to autocratic countries such as China. As bad as China is, it was far worse decades ago, and in the Korean War Americans and Chinese were killing each other. Meanwhile, free trade has lowered prices for American consumers. The shirt I might buy today costs about what one did when I graduated high school in 1987. Continue reading →

Pastor: Churches must make green to avoid red ink

Mark DeYmaz is the pastor of Little Rock’s Mosaic Church.

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

The pastor who started a church for white, black and brown people to worship together says churches must get serious about another color – green.

Mark DeYmaz started Mosaic Church in Little Rock in 2001 after deciding God was calling him to start a multiethnic congregation in a city with a segregationist history.

Now it’s a thriving inner city church. Its ministry arm, Vine and Village, monthly provides three or four days’ worth of groceries to residents of one of the city’s neediest areas. Operating partly through grants and partnerships, last year it fed 20,000 unique individuals in a zip code with 32,000 people.

Along the way, DeYmaz realized the typical church’s financial approach – more members equals more money for operations and ministries – wouldn’t work at Mosaic. Too many of his people are too poor. Continue reading →

If China will silence a tweet …

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

I generally believe free trade can point an authoritarian country like China in the direction of freedom and free markets. One downside, however, is that both sides can be influenced.

On Oct. 4, Daryl Morey, the general manager of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, tweeted seven words: “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.”

China was offended, and the backlash was immediate. The Chinese Basketball Association ended its relationship with the Rockets, which had been the most popular NBA team in China because star Yao Ming played there. Already scheduled preseason games in China between the Los Angeles Lakers and New Jersey Nets were taken off Chinese television. Corporate sponsors withdrew, and their names were scrubbed from the floor.

The response by many in the NBA was … less than courageous. Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta said Morey does not speak for the team, and Morey deleted the tweet and apologized. The NBA initially called Morey’s tweet “regrettable” and declared its “great respect for the history and culture of China.”

Then NBA Commissioner Adam Silver backtracked with a second statement that affirmed Morey’s right to express himself. China’s state TV response was this: “We’re strongly dissatisfied and oppose Adam Silver’s claim to support Morey’s right to freedom of expression. We believe that any remarks that challenge national sovereignty and social stability are not within the scope of freedom of speech.”

Let that sink in. Continue reading →