GOP Convention, Puerto Rico Recovery, Pokemon Go

The Republican Convention and Donald Trump’s Vice Presidential Nomination Guest: Jeremy Pope, PhD, Political Science Professor, Co-Director of the Center for Elections and Democracy at BYU After all the talk of a contested convention and efforts by the Never Trump group, Donald Trump became the Republican Party’s official nominee for president, and made Indiana Governor Mike Pence his running mate. Puerto Rico’s Path to Economic Recovery Guest: Brian Gendreau, PhD, Visiting Professor of Finance at the University of Florida Puerto Rico has $72 billion in debt it can’t pay, and came right to the edge of defaulting on its debt when Congress passed a rescue plan. But Puerto Rico is not off the hook for all that debt. Rather, it’ll be restructured so Puerto Rico has a better chance of covering the debts. And Congress created a new oversight board to manage Puerto Rico’s finances.  Will that be enough for the US territory recover like Iceland has done from its near collapse during the 2008 global financial crisis? Or will Puerto Rico’s experience be more like Greece, which got two bailout packages from the EU and made harsh budget cuts but is still, 8 years later, at an economic standstill?  Perceptions of the American Dream Hurting Economic Mobility Guest: Azim Shariff, PhD, Psychology Professor at the University of Oregon The American Dream is all about the possibility that with enough hard work, you can go from rags to riches and that your kids will be better off financially than you were. That’s called “economic mobility” because you’re moving between economic strata. But the crazy thing is that even though it’s called The American Dream our rate of economic mobility is among the lowest of any developed country. Which means that for most Americans, the American Dream of improving your station in life is just that – a dream.  But not many Americans realize this – and that misperception is actually making it harder for us to address the underlying problem of income inequality that could bring back the American Dream.  Apple Seed Guest: Sam Payne, Host of BYUradio’s “The Apple Seed” Sam Payne joins us each week with insights on tellers and stories. Pokemon Go Is a Game-Changer Guest: Derek Hansen, PhD, Professor of Information Technology at BYU Pokemon GO is either a great way to get people out of the house and interacting with others or it’s spawning a swarm of trespassers and zombie pedestrians who congregate in public places staring intently at their phones. Or maybe the most successful mobile game of all time is both of those things? One thing’s for sure: Pokemon GO is a game-changer in the world of game development.  Unravelling the Mystery of Vocal Cords Guest: Ingo Titze, PhD, Director of the National Center for Voice and Speech, Adjunct Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Utah The human voice is a remarkable instrument, isn’t it? A piano uses hundreds of different vibrating strings, one for each note, and yet, singers can create a huge variety of notes with just two strings.