• INFO TECH COMPANIES ARE DEVELOPING FACIAL-RECOGNITION ALGORITHMS TO DETECT ‘EMOTIONAL STATE’ based on artificial intelligence analysis of video footage; some companies already base hiring systems on machine-learned examination of required video CV submissions. But latest studies at Northeastern University Boston show “there is no good scientific evidence to suggest recognizable facial expressions (like smile, frown, raised eyebrow, scowl, mouth position, etc) correlate to basic emotions… Absence of ‘context’ and non-verbal clues (such as body posture) makes these expressions ambiguous for every emotional category – anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness & surprise… Given that people cannot guess each other’s emotional states most of the time, there’s no reason that computers would be able to.” Facial expressions are not always a reliable guide.  [ECONOMIST – 2/22/20]
  • WHILE AMERICAN INCOME & WEALTH TRANSFER TAX LEVELS ARE CURRENTLY AT A RELATIVELY LOW POINT, the pendulum is highly likely to swing back, thanks to massive national debt (on its way to $23 trillion with no end in sight), and to media & politicians continuously blaming economic problems on ‘the rich’ – effectively pushing towards class warfare in some capacity. So absence of planning strategically for tax avoidance is wasteful & foolish, especially when retirement and legacy expectations involve sale of materially inflated assets. DCG affiliates have substantial expertise in facilitating strategies which can permanently avoid capital gains & passive income taxes and estate transfer taxes, while maintaining (1) full control to invest & access the assets; (2) flexibility for changes as the economic/ political/ tax environment changes; and (3) asset protection in an increasingly litigious world. Structuring also can avoid income taxes on royalty income to individual persons or their entities that own IP, brands, trademarks, patents, etc. Forecasts show that wealth can increase by up to five times, depending on ages, income & wealth level, and family circumstances through IRS-approved structures which do not require purchase of any insurance or investment product. Call us before your reality check bounces!
  • REMEMBERING PEOPLE’S NAMES WHEN YOU MEET is a problem for most, at any age. The ‘tricks’ which are workable for many are simple: (1) Find a reason to repeat their name soon after hearing it, a “phenomenon in the psychology of memory called Generation Effect”; and (2) Immediately connect their name to anything else about them – height, hair, smile, city (e.g. Big Bob, Fat Albert, Lawyer Linda, Downtown David, etc.).  [FAST COMPANY -2/24 20]
  • CLIMATE CHANGE REALITY: While the degree of impact that humans cause, and could or can’t materially modify, is far from resolved, the seriousness of this decade’s temperature changes is non-debatable. 2014 to 2018 all had record-breaking temps all leaked to natural disasters – extreme floods, hurricanes, wildfires, loss of polar icecaps and half the great barrier reef. Examples: (1) 7 of the 10 most destructive California wildfires in history; (2) six category 5 hurricanes tore through the Atlantic region decimating entire communities with rains up to 50”; (3) melting ice sheets & glaciers subjecting coastal communities to tropical cyclones, extreme flooding, marine heatwaves & permafrost affecting up to 700 million people; (4) flooding with a projected 0.1% chance of happening in any given year occurring five times; (5) over a hundred ‘billion dollar’ climate disasters – double that of the prior decade. Scientists now predict “more than double the level of warming to cause irreversible damage to the planet,” a dire global problem with no realistic solution in sight!   [LBN EXAMINER – 2/4/20]
  • ‘BILLABLE HOUR’ PRICING BY PROFESSIONAL FIRMS is increasingly transitioning to ‘Value-based’ pricing models, based on scope of deliverable services rather than non-transparent recorded time. Fixed-fees related to expertise and value provided, which allow clients to budget for deliverable services without surprises, have been championed and implemented for decades by DCG and our predecessor CPA/Business Management firm. Finally, as a result of competition from millennial startup and emerging firms, these pricing models are now starting to be adopted by larger consulting & law firms including (for certain services) the ‘Big Four’ professional firms.  [BUSINESSWEEK – 2/17/20]

      Reactions of wild animals first seeing themselves in a mirror: https://biggeekdad.com/2015/06/wild-animals-in-mirrors/

     While birthrates continue to decline in first-world countries, as people are convinced that too many people are exhausting too few resources for power/ water/ shelter/ waste/ travel/ breathing space/ etc., the population demographic has shifted predominantly to just six countries: Angola, Congo, Ethiopia Nigeria, Tanzania and Pakistan