• Why Isn’t ESG Living Up to the Hype?, with Sanjai Bhagat
    Jun 3 2024
    Author and university professor Sanjai Bhagat joins Tim to talk about his research findings on ESG investing and what he calls “an inconvenient truth” about it. According to Sanjai, ESG investing is simply not living up to the hype, and he knows why. If your retirement funds are invested in ESG funds, or if your financial advisor wants you to invest in ESG funds, you need to listen to Sanjai. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/ESG_Audio_Podcast_auphonic.mp3 Sanjai Bhagat is Provost Professor of Finance at the University of Colorado, and he’s the author of the book, “Financial Crisis, Corporate Governance, and Bank Capital.” But what caught my attention was something he wrote for the Harvard Business Review. In March of 2022, he wrote an article entitled, “An Inconvenient Truth About ESG Investing.” Check out this FULL EPISODE at YouTube: https://youtu.be/i5MZc569a98/ Check out this FULL EPISODE at Rumble: https://rumble.com/v4tuoor-why-isnt-esg-living-up-to-the-hype-with-sanjai-bhagat.html LIKE & SUBSCRIBE for new videos as soon as they are posted: https://www.youtube.com/@shapingopinion/videos Stay up to date by signing up for the Shaping Opinion Substack here: https://shapingopinion.substack.co Find the full audio show wherever you get your podcasts: Apple — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shaping-opinion/id1371714253 Spotify — https://open.spotify.com/show/6yOg769bSm9hJn9zhwkunl For all episodes and to learn more about Shaping Opinion at: https://shapingopinion.com Follow the Shaping Opinion Podcast on all social platforms: Twitter/X - @Shaping Opinion, Instagram - @Shaping Opinion, on Facebook at Shaping Opinion and don’t forget to join the “Shaping Opinion Podcast Listeners” Group on Facebook. Links from Our Conversation: An Inconvenient Truth About ESG Investing, Harvard Business Review, https://hbr.org/2022/03/an-inconvenient-truth-about-esg-investing/ Sanjai Bhagat, Ph.D., on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjaibhagat/ Why Do ESG Funds Underperform? https://ssrn.com/abstract=3725828 Companies that Issue Green Bonds Do Not Lower Their Carbon Emissions - https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4492883/ U.S. Carmakers EV Plans Hinge on Batteries, Wall Street Journal - https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-car-makers-ev-plans-hinge-on-made-in-america-batteries-11675640784?page=1 Should the U.S. Courts Allow the SEC to Enforce Mandates to Disclose Compliance with Climate Goals, Columbia Business School Paper - http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3800193
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    Less than 1 minute
  • What is Going On with Vatican Art?, with Eric Armusik
    May 27 2024
    Catholic artist Eric Armusik joins Tim to talk about the current trend at the Vatican to embrace ugly art at the expense of so much beauty it could showcase. Eric paints classical figurative art. His work is reminiscent of the old masters. His works are inspired by grand and vivid murals that he first saw in Gothic cathedrals as a child. But what caught my attention was a social media post from Eric that highlighted something we all may have noticed but may not have thought much about, which is how the Vatican seems to have gotten away from this sort of beauty and realism in its own art. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Vatican_Art_II_auphonic.mp3 Check out this FULL EPISODE at YouTube: https://youtu.be/St9f7UwZe3U Check out this FULL EPISODE on Rumble: https://rumble.com/v4u5wll-whats-going-on-with-vatican-art-with-eric-armusik.html LIKE & SUBSCRIBE for new videos as soon as they are posted: https://www.youtube.com/@shapingopinion/videos Stay up to date by signing up for the Shaping Opinion Substack here: https://shapingopinion.substack.co Find the full audio show wherever you get your podcasts: Apple — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shaping-opinion/id1371714253 Spotify — https://open.spotify.com/show/6yOg769bSm9hJn9zhwkunl For all episodes and to learn more about Shaping Opinion at: https://shapingopinion.com Follow the Shaping Opinion Podcast on all social platforms: Twitter/X - @Shaping Opinion, Instagram - @Shaping Opinion, on Facebook at Shaping Opinion and don’t forget to join the “Shaping Opinion Podcast Listeners” Group on Facebook. Links from Our Conversation: Erik Armusik’s Website - https://www.ericarmusik.com Vatican Proud of Ugly Sculpture in Audience Hall - https://www.oliverduerr.de/en/society/vatikan-zeigt-sich-stolz-auf-haessliche-skulptur-in-audienzhalle/ Contemporary Catholic Art Doesn’t Have to be Ugly. Just look at this new cathedral, Catholic Herald - https://catholicherald.co.uk/contemporary-catholic-art-doesnt-have-to-be-ugly-just-look-at-this-new-cathedral/ The Vatican’s Cosmic Nativity Scene, Tradition in Action - https://www.traditioninaction.org/RevolutionPhotos/A915-Pre.htm Pope Welcomes Artists, Including Andres Serrano, Artnet - https://news.artnet.com/art-world/pope-francis-artists-andres-serrano-vatican-2328251
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    43 mins
  • Are Doctors Overmedicating Kids?, with Brooke Siem
    May 20 2024
    Author, writer and advocate Brooke Siem joins Tim to talk about her own experience with doctors prescribing anti-depressants to long-term negative effects. Brooke is an advocate for the practice of safe de-prescribing for psychiatric drugs. In 2022, she published a memoir on her own struggles with antidepressant withdrawal. The title of that book is called, “May Cause Side Effects.” https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Are_Doctors_Overmedicating_Kids_with_Brooke_Siem_auphonic.mp3 Brooke is also a chef who co-founded New York City’s Prohibition Bakery in 2011, and in 2017 she was crowned a Food Network “Chopped” Champion. She tells a behind-the-scenes story that illustrates her struggles with anti-depressant withdrawal. Check out this FULL EPISODE at YouTube: https://youtu.be/VWyBFtVnmDc Check out this FULL EPISODE at Rumble: https://rumble.com/v4t4il3-are-doctors-overmedicating-kids-with-brooke-siem.html LIKE & SUBSCRIBE for new videos as soon as they are posted: https://www.youtube.com/@shapingopinion/videos Stay up to date by signing up for the Shaping Opinion Substack here: https://shapingopinion.substack.co Find the full audio show wherever you get your podcasts: Apple — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shaping-opinion/id1371714253 Spotify — https://open.spotify.com/show/6yOg769bSm9hJn9zhwkunl For all episodes and to learn more about Shaping Opinion at: https://shapingopinion.com Follow the Shaping Opinion Podcast on all social platforms: Twitter/X - @Shaping Opinion, Instagram - @Shaping Opinion, on Facebook at Shaping Opinion and don’t forget to join the “Shaping Opinion Podcast Listeners” Group on Facebook. Links from Our Conversation: May Cause Side Effects: A Memoir: Siem, Brooke: 9781949481891: Amazon.com: Books Brooke Siem - Brooke Siem Brooke Siem Learn Happy Substack: www.brookesiem.substack.com Brooke Siem: What This Famous Chopped Winner Is Doing Now (mashed.com) What I wish I had known before I stopped taking antidepressants, and before I started - Washington Examiner Why we should stop casually prescribing antidepressants to teens (nypost.com)
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    51 mins
  • Is Cancel Culture Killing Comedy?, with Evan Nierman
    May 13 2024
    Author and crisis manager Evan Nierman joins Tim O’Brien to talk about cancel culture and its attacks on comedians and comedy in general. Will it kill comedy as we know it? And how can you defend yourself if the “cancel vultures” attack? https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Cancel_Culture_Raw_Audio.mp3 Check out this FULL EPISODE at YouTube: Is Cancel Culture Killing Comedy?, with Evan Nierman (youtube.com) Check out this FULL EPISODE at Rumble: https://rumble.com/v4sxg5i-is-cancel-culture-killing-comedy-with-evan-nierman.html LIKE & SUBSCRIBE for new videos as soon as they are posted: https://www.youtube.com/@shapingopinion/videos Stay up to date by signing up for the Shaping Opinion Substack here: https://shapingopinion.substack.co Find the full audio show wherever you get your podcasts: Apple — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shaping-opinion/id1371714253 Spotify — https://open.spotify.com/show/6yOg769bSm9hJn9zhwkunl For all episodes and to learn more about Shaping Opinion at: https://shapingopinion.com Follow the Shaping Opinion Podcast on all social platforms: Twitter/X - @Shaping Opinion, Instagram - @Shaping Opinion, on Facebook at Shaping Opinion and don’t forget to join the “Shaping Opinion Podcast Listeners” Group on Facebook. Links from Our Conversation: Amazon.com: The Cancel Culture Curse: From Rage to Redemption in a World Gone Mad: 9781510777194: Nierman, Evan, Sachs, Mark: Books Cancel culture is no laughing matter: Comedy on the edge | The Hill Jerry Seinfeld slams political correctness, extreme left for ruining comedy (smh.com.au) Bari Weiss and Her Resignation from the New York Times - Resignation Letter — Bari Weiss
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    46 mins
  • Unprecedented: Parents of Mass Shooter Convicted, with Attorney Mark Chutkow
    May 6 2024
    Attorney Mark Chutkow joins Tim O’Brien to talk about an unprecedented case where the parents of a mass shooter are prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to prison. Is this a one-off or a sign of things to come? That’s just one of the questions we discuss. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/Parents_of_School_Shooter_Convicted_auphonic.mp3 Check out this FULL EPISODE at YouTube: https://youtu.be/LIgv_NK9PL4 Check out this FULL EPISODE at Rumble: https://rumble.com/v4s33lo-unprecedented-parents-of-mass-shooter-convicted-with-attorney-mark-chutkow.html LIKE & SUBSCRIBE for new videos as soon as they are posted: https://www.youtube.com/@shapingopinion/videos Stay up to date by signing up for the Shaping Opinion Substack here: https://shapingopinion.substack.co Find the full audio show wherever you get your podcasts: Apple — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shaping-opinion/id1371714253 Spotify — https://open.spotify.com/show/6yOg769bSm9hJn9zhwkunl Learn more about Shaping Opinion at: https://shapingopinion.com Follow the Shaping Opinion Podcast on all social platforms: Twitter/X - @Shaping Opinion, Instagram - @Shaping Opinion, on Facebook at Shaping Opinion and don’t forget to join the “Shaping Opinion Podcast Listeners” Group on Facebook. Links from Our Conversation: Mark Chutkow - https://www.dykema.com/people/mark-chutkow.html Michigan School Shooter Sentenced to Life in Prison without Parole - https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/ethan-crumbley-sentencing-oxford-shooting-12-08-23/index.html Michigan School Shooter’s Parents Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison - https://apnews.com/article/james-crumbley-jennifer-crumbley-oxford-school-shooting-e5888f615c76c3b26153c34dc36d5436
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    35 mins
  • Preview: Shaping Opinion 2.0
    Apr 29 2024
    If you follow us on social media or have subscribed to our new Substack page you may already know we’ve been on hiatus in recent months. Most of the episodes you have heard since the start of the New Year have been encore episodes. Today, we have some good news. Starting next week, you will be seeing and hearing Shaping Opinion 2.0! https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/Preview_-_Shaping_Opinion_2.0.mp3 We’ve used the last few months to revisit every aspect of the podcast and make improvements. For background, we started the Shaping Opinion podcast in March 2018 when podcasting was just hitting its stride as a popular new sensation. The big commercial companies had started to pay attention, but at that time, independent podcast producers like us dominated. There were well less than 500,000 podcasts in the world, and almost all of them were audio in nature. In short, it wasn’t as hard then to make a dent as it is now. As a result, we experienced some immediate interest in what we were offering, and steady audience growth over the years. In the process, we released roughly 300 original episodes that have won us awards, attracted listeners from all over the world, but mostly in the U.S., and a few listeners who you might even consider celebrities. My favorite feedback, though, has been from individual guests. Almost every guest has been glad he or she participated. Consistently, they have told me they enjoyed the interview experience. They have appreciated that we do our homework and don’t just ask the “typical” questions. It’s a conversation that they themselves have tended to see as a break from the grind of doing the same-old media interviews. Tim O'Brien If you were to ask me, though, what was the focus of the Shaping Opinion podcast, my answer would have been much different in 2018 than it is now. Back then, I envisioned it being a true-crime type of podcast only focusing on big, historic PR events. I found out pretty quickly you can’t do a weekly podcast on that. So, we expanded our focus. The tagline, which was fitting, was, “We talk about people, events and things that shape the way we think.” And we did, broadly speaking. In the process, we found ourselves talking about such a range of topics week after week, that our audience would come and go by topic. If we interviewed NFL Hall of Famer Larry Czonka one week, we may have gotten thousands and thousands of new listeners who are football fans. But they went away the next week when we interviewed someone else who had nothing to do with sports. This pattern has repeated itself throughout the life of the podcast. At the same time, the podcasting landscape has changed. Major commercial enterprises have entered the podcasting space and have dominated it while further growing it into a multi-billion-dollar industry. Along with that, they made the video format almost a requirement. Ironically, independent podcasts have continued to drive the industry’s growth as well. There are now well over one million podcasts available for free to the growing world of podcast listeners. Those listeners have so many options, they seek clarity. They want to know where your podcast fits, what it offers. Today’s podcast listener, unlike the listener of 2018, wants to know up front where we fit in the larger mosaic of podcasts. And that is where we started as we conducted an analysis of what the Shaping Opinion Podcast must be, and what it will be going forward. And now here we are. Next Monday marks a new day for the Shaping Opinion Podcast. Here’s what you’ll notice first. We’ll be on video! You will find the Shaping Opinion podcast on YouTube and Rumble, and you can get to it through our own episode pages at ShapingOpinion.com. We have changed the format. It’s much tighter, and episodes will be shorter (30-45 minutes). Our interviews will still be one-on-one, deep dive conversations as you’re used to.
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    6 mins
  • Encore: What They Won’t Tell You About Socialism
    Apr 22 2024
    Economist, professor and author Paul Rubin joins Tim to talk about the impact of socialism on the future, particularly among young people who tend to be the most supportive of it, but who stand to lose the most because of it. This is the focus of his new book called, “A Student’s Guide to Socialism: How it will trash your lives.” This episode was first released January 4, 2021. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/157_-_What_They_Wont_Tell_You_About_Socialism.mp3 If you want to see where socialism has been tried and failed, you don’t have to look far. Venezuela is one current-day example. The country sits on one of the world’s largest deposits of oil, yet people in that country have to wait in long lines for gas, the prices for gas are high and the quality of life is among the lowest in the world. Or, you could look toward history, from the Soviet Union, to Cuba, to countries from Eastern Europe to South America and Africa. The examples of socialist failure are many. But if you look for examples of where socialism has been successful, you can look, but you won’t find many if any. The effects of socialism aren’t just a poor standard of living, but massive human misery, that history has shown, has led to the establishment of dictators and small rich oligarchies who rule the masses under the thumb of socialism. At the same time, the concepts of socialism have long had a certain appeal to young people and oppressed peoples. Socialism has a certain seductive quality for some. Paul Rubin has spent decades teaching young generations about basic economic principles, and has spent no small amount of time educating young people on the risks of socialism. Links A Student’s Guide to Socialism: How it will trash your lives, by Paul Rubin (Amazon) Paul Rubin, The Independent Institute How are socialism and communism different?, History.com Capitalism v. Socialism, PragerU.com About this Episode’s Guest Paul Rubin Paul H. Rubin is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Economics Emeritus in the Economics Department of Emory University and a former Professor of Law and Economics at the School of Law. He served as editor-in-chief of Managerial and Decision Economics. In addition, he is associated with the Mont Peleron Society, the Independent Institute, and the American Enterprise Institute, and a Fellow of the Public Choice Society and former President of the Southern Economics Association. Professor Rubin was Senior Economist at the Council of Economic Advisers under President Reagan, Chief Economist at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Director of Advertising Economics at the Federal Trade Commission, and Vice-President of Glassman-Oliver Economic Consultants, Inc., a litigation consulting firm in Washington. He has taught economics at the University of Georgia, City University of New York, VPI, and law and economics at George Washington University Law School. Professor Rubin has written or edited several books, and has published over one hundred articles and chapters on economics, law, and regulation. Much of Professor Rubin’s writing is in law and economics, with a focus on tort, crime and contract issues. His areas of research interest include law and economics, industrial organization, transaction cost economics, government and business, public choice, regulation and price theory, and evolution and economics. His work has been cited in the professional literature over 11,100 times. He has consulted widely on litigation related matters, and has addressed numerous business, professional, policy and academic audiences. He has testified three times before Congress, and has served as an advisor on tort issues to the Congressional Budget Office. Professor Rubin is the author of the well-known paper “Why Is the Common Law efficient?” Journal of Legal Studies, 1977, which has been reprinted eight times, in English, Spanish and French. B.A. 1963,
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    33 mins
  • 1979: City of Champions
    Apr 15 2024
    This is a Special Edition of the Shaping Opinion Podcast called “1979: City of Champions.” In this extended episode (90 minutes), we take you to when Pittsburgh became the “City of Champions,” and how its impact went well beyond the field, or just baseball or football fans. In the end, it’s about what sports can do to bolster an entire people who are going through hard times. Guests include: Kent Tekulve, Joe Gordon, Lanny Frattare, Michael MacCambridge, John Steigerwald and Walter Iooss, Jr. This is the story of Pittsburgh, City of Champions, like you've never heard it before. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/Full_Episode_-_City_of_Champions_auphonic.mp3 In this episode, we start with a group of Pittsburgh steelworkers who are standing around waiting for the arrival of two Pittsburgh sports icons. They stand in the cold and drafty Jones and Laughlin steel mill along the banks of the Monongahela River. The smoke stack above their building belches out thick black smoke. The stack next to it literally belches out fire. The air around the mill is thick with the smell of burning sulfur. If you’re one of the kids at the playground on the bluff above that mill in South Oakland, you’re at eye level with the top of those stacks and you can see that fire. You can see that smoke pouring out, and the air smells like rotten eggs. You can’t avoid it. Down below, the guests of honor have arrived. They are both co-honorees - named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsmen of the Year. Willie Stargell of the World Series Champion Pittsburgh Pirates and Terry Bradshaw, of the three-time Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers. About 15 steelworkers, clad in their green and gray mill uniforms, where hard hats and safety glasses, and they crowd around Stargell and Bradshaw, who are in their own work uniforms. Instantly, these tough and grizzled veterans of the mill become boyish football fans when the two baseball and football stars come in. Not much is getting done around the mill right now. With them is another legend. The photographer. But not just any photographer. He’s a GOAT in his own right. Walter Iooss, Jr. is Sports Illustrated’s best ever. Ever see that photo of Joe Namath predicting a Jets Super Bowl win at pool side? That was Walter. What about the shot of Joe Montana throwing to Dwight Clark in the 1981 NFC Championship game, the one they called, “The Catch?” That was Walter, too. From Tiger Woods to Michael Jordan, to the iconic Swimsuit editions. If you can conjure up an iconic sports or swimsuit image in your mind, there’s a good chance Walter captured it for you. And here he is, lighting the floor of a steel mill to take a shot that would soon become iconic in its own right. Willie Stargell in his World Series champion uniform. Gold shirt with black pants. Next to him, Terry Bradshaw in his Super Bowl champion uniform, that classic black shirt with boxed numbers and gold pants. Surrounding them are those steelworkers. Walter told me there really wasn’t much to setting up the shot, but what it stood for, well, that was something else. Welcome to 1979 and Pittsburgh, The City of Champions. In this episode we take you through, chronologically, the year Pittsburgh became the City of Champions, along with stories, insights, and what it all came to mean. Guests Lanny Frattare Joe Gordon Walter Iooss, Jr. John Steigerwald Kent Tekulve Michael MacCambridge Photo Credit: Sports Illustrated and Walter Iooss, Jr. Links Two Champs from the “City of Champions,” Sports Illustrated 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers, NFL.com 1979 World Series, MLB.com Kent Tekulve, MLB.com Steelers PR Maven Honored by Pro Football Hall of Fame, Jewish Chronicle Rise of the Steelers, American Football Database Lanny Frattare, Waynesburg University The John Steigerwald Show, AM1250 “The Answer” Walter Iooss, Jr., His Website Michael MacCambridge, His Author Website
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    1 hr and 27 mins