Episode #441: Grab Bag Galore

We announced at the end of last week that we planned to talk about Peter Block's new book Confronting Our Freedom, however, this week we learned that Peter has agreed to join us in about a month. YES! Because of this good news we pivoted to a topical show. There are a few newsworthy items, including a show review that we shared with you.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio:

Segment one:

• Peter Block is back on the show on June 23rd to talk about his book and “never has the soul of enterprise been in so much jeopardy” to use Block’s words. Plus, we have George Gilder next week! Great shows ahead.

• Was the billable hour destroyed over the last 10 years and it is making a comeback? That was topic number 1 for our grab bag galore today.

• Are there any businesses where the billable hour makes sense? The airline industry with respect to engines. The time in the air is the only time that is billed. Incentives are aligned. But notice this is on an inanimate object.

• Does anybody remember when AOL billed by the hour? And then went to a flat rate model? http://www.famousdaily.com/history/aol-switches-to-flat-monthly-rate.html 

• “If you negotiate on cost plus pricing, you’ve already lost.” —Rory Sutherland

Segment two:

• “Company earnings guidance is wrong about 70pc of the time” by Matthew Boyle https://www.afr.com/markets/equity-markets/company-earnings-guidance-is-wrong-about-70pc-of-the-time-20230524-p5das9

• Goodwill is how accountants describe their ignorance…or something like that :)  Let’s ask ChatGPT, shall we? https://chat.openai.com/share/423d9c90-6bc4-448b-8b9a-3229c9085b46 

• “If I Betray These Words: Moral Injury in Medicine and Why It's So Hard for Clinicians to Put Patients First” by Wendy Dean and Simon Talbot https://www.amazon.com/If-Betray-These-Words-Clinicians/dp/1586423541 

• Moral injury is a new term to Ron. It was first used to describe acts of transgression during the Vietnam War and Ron talked about it today in the context of medicine. https://www.dav.org/get-help-now/veteran-topics-resources/moral-injury/ 

Segment three:

• Sometimes forgotten, Electronic Health Records — when initially mandated — imposed enormous costs on smaller offices.

• Out of network doctors at your in network hospital? If you are in the United States, this is a real concern and has HAPPENED to Ed before.

• [Sarcasm ahead as they received extra shoutouts on the show today] I don’t we say thank you enough to 90Minds, the sponsor of our Patreon channel at Patreon.com/TSOE — If you need a mind, get one at 90Minds.com

Segment four:

• We received a great review from a listener AND guest, Brian Terrell @brian_terrell. Ron and Ed talked about the review live on the show today. 

• Amazon and AWS is a great example of a spinout entity. Why dilute the Amazon consumer brand and confuse the situation with AWS? Ron and Ed talked about this in relation to CPA firms and their bookkeeping work in segment four of today’s show.

• “Advisory services is an oxymoron. Advice is not a service.” —Ed Kless

• Exciting news! Ron Baker, Paul Dunn, and Ed Kless have launched the Time’s Up Club. Audio chapter summaries of the book, Time’s Up, are available for FREE in the free forever plan. Just sign up at TimesUpClub.com  

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #440: Second interview with Dan Mitchell

Ron and Ed last spoke to Dan Mitchell in May of 2020 when Covid was in full swing. For this show, we get an update on the results of the C-19 spending policies and bring the conversation to current tax policies and proposals. Dan opines on his blog International Liberty on a far range of subjects. This was a fascinating conversation.

A Bit More About Dan Mitchell…

Daniel J. Mitchell is a cofounder of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity and the Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation. He is one of the nations leading experts on tax reform and supplyside tax policy. In addition to tax policy, Dr. Mitchell is a trenchant observer of economic developments and an expert on Social Security privatization particularly the fiscal policy impact of reform and what the US can learn from other nations that have created personal retirement accounts. Dr. Mitchell’s byline can be found in such national publications as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Investors Business Daily. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University and masters and bachelors degrees in economics from the University of Georgia. Mitchell was a senior fellow with the Cato Institute and The Heritage Foundation, and an economist for Senator Bob Packwood and the Senate Finance Committee.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio:

Segment one:

• Should Congress raise the debt ceiling? That was Ron’s FIRST question for Dan today on the show. Just moments prior, government negotiations broke down so this is already turning out to be a great show.

• “Our number one problem is not red ink. The most important thing to understand is that deficits and debt are the symptoms of the real problem which is too much government spending.” —Dan Mitchell

• Dan talked about the Swiss “Debt Brake” on the show today. Here is an article from Cato with his byline about the topic. https://www.cato.org/commentary/how-swiss-debt-brake-tamed-government 

• There is a balanced budget criteria in the EU that is focused on deficits and debt. Does that stop the EU from having big, bloated, high tax governments? No. The spirit behind a balanced budget amendment is admirable but does not work in practice.

Segment two:

• Dan publishes his thoughts almost every single day on his International Liberty blog. Check it out at this link https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/ 

• Dan worries about Universal Basic Income (UBI) because he thinks about the horrible impact the welfare state has had on poorer people. UBI is the welfare state on steroids.

• For background, China is much better off today than they were under Mao. But they’re still way behind the United States (based on IMF, World Bank, OECD numbers) Dan penned, “More Failure for China’s Industrial Policy” https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2023/05/04/more-failure-for-chinas-industrial-policy/ 

• Here is more from Dan on Basic Income — “The Horrendous Tax Implications of Basic Income” — https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2023/05/03/the-horrendous-tax-implications-of-basic-income/

Segment three:

• Hey Dan, will that extra $80M help the IRS? “It will make the IRS more effective at squeezing money out of small businesses and individuals.”

• Dan Mitchell mentioned this on the show today. The @TaxFoundation has great research on the compliance burden of overall income tax. More here https://taxfoundation.org/ 

• “The tax gap almost certainly is more likely to be more prevalent in cash based businesses.” —Dan Mitchell

Segment four:

• Dan opined on his 11th theorem of government today. Image is attached and more at this link https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2023/05/17/big-business-vs-free-enterprise/ 

• “In my fantasy world, we would have separation of business and state. In the real world, I’ll be happy if we can simply block the left’s ESG agenda so that big companies will be forced to earn money in the market rather than steal money via politics.” https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2023/05/17/big-business-vs-free-enterprise/ 

• On the rule of law and how it is not applied equally across bank failures… ”If they touch a hot stove, we want them to burn a finger.” —Dan Mitchell

• A big THANK YOU to Dan Mitchell for joining us today. Check out the Center for Freedom and Prosperity here: https://freedomandprosperity.org/ 

Here is Dan’s Eleventh Theorem of Government:

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #439: Interview with Ian Vásquez

Ron and Ed welcomed Cato Institute's vice president for international studies and director of its Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Ian Vasquez. Among other topics, they discussed the latest Human Freedom Index, of which Ian is a co-author. For those of you unfamiliar the Human Freedom Index presents the state of human freedom in the world based on a broad measure that encompasses personal, civil, and economic freedom. Human freedom is a social concept that recognizes the dignity of individuals and is defined here as negative liberty or the absence of coercive constraint. Because freedom is inherently valuable and plays a role in human progress, it is worth measuring carefully. The Human Freedom Index is a resource that can help to more objectively observe relationships between freedom and other social and economic phenomena, as well as the ways in which the various dimensions of freedom interact with one another.

A Bit More About Ian Vásquez…

Ian Vásquez is vice president for international studies at the Cato Institute and director of its Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity. He was a weekly columnist at El Comercio (Peru) from 2014 to 2020, and his articles have appeared in newspapers throughout the United States and Latin America. Vásquez has appeared on CNBC, NBC, C-SPAN, CNN, Telemundo, Univisión, and Canadian Television, as well as NPR and Voice of America, discussing foreign policy and development issues. He received his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and his master’s degree from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He is the coauthor of the Human Freedom Index, editor of Global Fortune: The Stumble and Rise of World Capitalism, and coeditor of Perpetuating Poverty: The World Bank, the IMF and the Developing World. He has testified numerous times in the U.S. Congress on economic development issues. Vásquez has been a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is a member of the Mont Pèlerin Society.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio:

Segment one:

• Now in the 8th edition, the Human Freedom Index is the only global measurement of economic, personal, and civil liberties of its kind. More here: https://www.cato.org/search/category/human-freedom-index

• How do you define freedom in the with respect to the Human Freedom Index? The goal of the Cato team is a quantifiable measurement of freedom. In this case, freedom is defined as the absence of coercive constraint. https://www.cato.org/search/category/human-freedom-index 

• 94% of the world’s population saw a decline in freedom based on the 2023 Human Freedom Index. COVID-19 was a significant factor in this measurement.

• The United States dropped 7 places to number 23 in the most recent Human Freedom Index. It’s hard to tease out the exact reasons given how fresh the data is. As an example, freedom of movement suffered greatly as an example.

Segment two:

• The Human Freedom Index is co-published with Cato and their friends at the Fraser Institute. More here https://www.cato.org/search/category/human-freedom-index 

• As an example, Singapore has a high economic freedom ranking but the personal freedom score is a bit lower. Switzerland and New Zealand are number 1 and number 2. They rank high both on personal and economic freedom.

• 13% of the world’s population lives in the top quartile of freedom. 40%, the bottom quartile. 75% of the world’s population lives in the bottom half. This is really unequal distribution of freedom as measured by the Human Freedom Index report.

• It is much more important to look at the inequality of freedom as opposed to the inequality of income or wealth distribution. Freedom is what Ian the the Cato team find to be more important when trying to gauge inequality across the world. 

Segment three:

• “Free speech recession” is a phrase that Ian has used a few times during the show today to describe the ever-receding rights of the human population across the globe.

• The story of Hong Kong is a story of freedom and triumph. In the 19th century it was one of the poorest regions in the world. Through trade and economic freedom it became one of the most free (Human Freedom Index) places in the world. Of course, that has changed.

• The control of the economy is the control of life itself.

• The story of one of the great economic freedom successes can be found in Chile. They moved in the direction of a market economy. So why, in 2018, did they experience riots/violence and vote in a far left President who called for a new constitution? Ian addressed this today on the show.

Segment four:

• Ian discussed Ukraine during segment four of the show today. He also penned “What I Saw in Kyiv in 2014” in February 2023 at this link: https://www.cato.org/blog/what-i-saw-kyiv-2014 

• The US has not come up with a good set of policies in dealing with the great challenge of international relations with China. “There are bad answers and less bad answers.” 

• Ron asked Ian about Cuba today based on this article, “Cuba’s Freedom Song” https://www.cato.org/blog/cubas-freedom-song

• “There are no communists in Cuba. Nobody believes in the system.” —Ian Vasquez

• A big THANK YOU to Ian Vasquez for joining us today. He is the co-author of the Human Freedom Index. More at this link https://www.cato.org/search/category/human-freedom-index 

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #438: Fifth interview with Joe Woodard

Ron and Ed welcome back Joe Woodard, CEO of Woodard and host of the Scaling New Heights Conference at which Ron and Ed will be delivering keynotes and sessions. We chat about the conference, artificial intelligence, and other issues facing the accounting profession.

A Bit More About Joe Woodard…

As an author, consultant, business coach, and national speaker, Joe has trained over 100,000 accounting and business professionals in areas of practice development, changing technology trends, strategic consulting, and how to maximize the use of accounting software in their practices.In 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017, 2018 Joe was recognized by Accounting Today as one of the Top 100 Influential People within the accounting profession. In 2008, Joe was recognized by CPA Practice Advisor as one of the Top 40 Up and Coming Thought Leaders under the age of 40.Joe regularly publishes articles for Intuit publications and for Insightful Accountant, and Joe has been featured repeatedly in Accounting Today and AccountingWEB in both articles and in video interviews. Joe is the CEO of Woodard Events, LLC which includes education, coaching, resources, and a community for small business advisors and small business owners within the accounting industry.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio:

Segment one:

• Paul Dunn (co-author of Time’s Up!) helped Joe Woodard craft a better vision statement: Every vision statement should have an implied but known…”so that”. 

• For example, the Woodard vision statement is to transform business through business advisors…”so that”? So that business owners can have more intention and capacity to give to their family or other important people in their life.

• Does Joe embrace AI as an opportunity or is he scared of it? He’s not scared but he is nervous from an economic perspective. Can we pivot fast enough so that authors, storytellers, and artists can find a new way to bring the human touch to their work.

• Summarizing Joe’s take on AI: An intelligence - artificial or not - has the ability to draw conclusions and take action. When it can improve upon itself, we can’t even predict what it is capable of doing.

• “Data and knowledge are about the past. They say nothing about the future.” —Ron Baker

• Joe used the word prophetic on the show today and then dropped this one on us! “Wisdom is the fusion of knowledge and soul with a mix of emotion.” —Joe Woodard

Segment two:

• Everything AI came full circle today on the show. Joe suggested that in order to keep AI from becoming too powerful, the “gods” should probably give it different languages so that it is difficult to communicate amongst themselves.

• Ed summarized a great conversation from Russ Roberts and his guests on a recent show: “AI doesn’t know that it knows. Humans don’t know why we know.”

• Joe’s experience with the Metaverse is one in which barriers around age, nationality, and ethnicity are broken down.

• Snowcrash and the MUD from Dungeons and Dragons are two of the earliest known references to what we call the Metaverse today. If you haven’t read Snowcrash by Neil Stephenson, please do :) 

• The history of the Metaverse is inseparable from social media which is why Facebook did what they did in renaming and refocusing the organization as Meta.

Segment three:

• You don’t go to the Metaverse to get your job done. You go to the Metaverse to interact. It breaks down global barriers and language barriers.

• Why haven’t we seen the Metaverse become an economic powerhouse yet? We haven’t seen the aggregation of economies. We haven’t seen further adoption of blockchain technologies. YET.\

• Joe mentioned Metcalfe’s Law on the show today. If you are not familiar, Metcalfe's law states that the financial value or impact of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system.

• Related to adoption of the Metaverse, there is also a technological barrier right now. The resolution on headsets is still a bit low and that can cause a feeling of nausea in some users.

• Did you know that Accenture purchased 60,000 headsets for VR training? Check out this article https://www.consultancy.uk/news/29463/accenture-buys-60000-oculus-headsets-for-vr-training 

Segment four:

• It’s a little hyperbolic but Joe is known to say, “Give away the compliance to get the advisory.”

• The nature of tier 1 is record keeping and the product is very responsive. The nature of tier 2 is real time, operational, and interpretive in a Controller level. In tier 3, you are a business coach.

• Joe is really excited about Scaling New Heights this year. Leverage the environment around you like a hawk leverages its environment and SOAR. 

• A big THANK YOU to Joe Woodard for joining us today. If you have not recently, check out Woodard.com to see what his team is up to.

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits.