Small Business "Backbone" Podcast

Small Business "Backbone" Podcast

di Frank Knapp
ImprenditoriaPolitica
Stagione 2
Gubernatorial candidate Nancy Mace ready to take on data centers
SC Congresswoman Nancy Mace spoke with Small Business “Backbone” Podcast host Frank Knapp about what she intends to do about data centers if she is elected Governor. She says that she has heard from a lot of people across South Carolina that they are against data centers and that they don’t think that their voices are being heard. Congresswoman Mace severely criticized one of the Senate bills, offered this past legislative session to supposed to regulate data centers, saying that it did not protect ratepayers. She said that the failure of the legislature to pass meaningful data center regulations was a result of “doing what we’ve always done, which is nothing.” If elected, Congresswoman Mace said that she will be very involved in the data center issue and that she would personally wright the bill.
S2 · E7
29 mag 2026
14:27
New report sheds negative light on South Carolina transparency on data center incentives
Anthony Elmo, Public Education Defender for Good Jobs First, a national organization founded in 1998 that fights for transparency around public money used for economic development purposes. His organization pushes back on corporate welfare, he told podcast host Frank Knapp. Elmo’s organization cites data center tax abatement as one of their concerns, especially because it results in public schools losing tax revenue. In South Carolina, the estimate is upwards of $500 million in funding not going to schools. Good Jobs First recently released a report, “Data Center Tax Abatements. Why States and Localities Must Disclose These Soaring Revenue Losses”, which identifies 14 states that offer incentives to data centers yet do not disclose how much tax incentives are going to data center projects. South Carolina is one of those states. The conversation covered recent efforts in the South Carolina legislature to regulate data center development and at least get one year disclosures of data centers tax incentive used and their water consumption.
S2 · E6
26 apr 2026
25:57
Senator Leber on needed AI regulations: The longer we ignore it, the harder the fight is going to be.
Charleston Senator Matt Leber has worked in the SC House and now in the Senate to push legislation to regulate Artificial Intelligence. He talked with podcast host, Frank Knapp, about how he has sponsored bills that address guardrails on chatbots, computer programs that pose as humans to engage AI users in conversations online. These computer-driven chatbot conversations have been responsible for suicides and other self-harm, harm to others, sexual exploitation, anxiety, depression and other negative consequences. Chatbots also collect sensitive personal information that is then used for targeted advertising. Senator Leber’s bill addresses the above problems and importantly seeks to hold AI to product-liability laws. Senator Leber believes that we are facing a real battle for our dignity, for our personal rights and for being stakeholders for our children. The longer we ignore this problem, he says, the harder the fight is going to be.
S2 · E5
18 mar 2026
22:59
Senator Kennedy pushes for small business property tax relief
Senator Carlisle Kennedy of Lexington County believes that helping small business owners should be a priority for the state legislature. While big businesses, with their out-of-state ownership and shareholders, often get the tax breaks and other state incentives, Senator Kennedy tells podcast host Frank Knapp that he wants to focus on in-state small business owners who are the heart of communities. Senator Kennedy's efforts have been to reduce the business property taxes owed by a small businesses. His first bill 2024 would have reduced the fair market value of business property owned by a small business. He has just introduced a new version of that bill that would give a $10,000 tax credit on business property owned by a small business. He argues that reducing property tax on small businesses will wind up providing more tax revenue for counties because that money will be spent in their local economies.
S2 · E4
10 feb 2026
19:27
Deepfake expert has warning for all politicians
Professor Siwei Lyu, University of Buffalo, started his research on detecting computer manipulated images and audio 26 years ago. Then in 2017 Artificial Intelligence (AI) came on the scene and he was both excited and concerned. The ability to produce realistic deepfake manipulated images, videos and audio exploded. Professor Lyu told podcast host Frank Knapp that detecting deepfakes will no longer be possible by individuals and institutions. Only sophisticated technical examinations will be able to detect deepfakes. The tools to create deepfakes are easy to obtain and even people with no computer education, including teenagers, can easily be deepfake creators. Professor Lyu has a warning for all politicians regardless of partisan affiliation. Politicians are particularly vulnerable to deepfakes because of the amount of public video, images, and audio of them. Professor Lyu’s computer lab has created a free online platform for deepfake detection, the Deepfake-O-Meter. However, he believes that there should be legal requirements for AI generated deepfakes to be labeled, including both visual and audio warnings as well as watermarking of all AI generated deepfakes. Such state and federal laws would reduce, but not eliminate, the number of deepfakes being generated and hold deepfake creators legally accountable for the labeling.
S2 · E3
9 feb 2026
26:41
SC Professor talks about his experience in Minnesota
The whole world has been watching immigration enforcement in Minneapolis. Probably not too many South Carolinians have been there during this time. But Professor Will McCorkle just returned from Minnesota. McCorkle is an Associate Professor at the College of Charleston with a research focus on the intersection of nationalism, immigration, and education with a particular focus on more marginalized migrant communities. He is also the program director of the University’s Master’s of Teaching, Learning, and Advocacy. Professor McCorkle talks about his personal experience and interaction with others at protests and vigils. He also shares his conversations with small business owners and the effect the ICE activities have had on their business.
S2 · E2
5 feb 2026
25:35
National non-profit consumer organization pushes for states to regulate AI
Ben Winters, Director of AI and Data Privacy at the Consumer Federation of America, leads his 57-year old organization’s efforts to have states regulate artificial intelligence to protect the public. Winters argues that there is no better time for states to regulate AI to address problems ranging from algorithms used to recommend actions impacting consumers, deep fake images, utilization of personal information for marketing, and AI generated interactions with the public including children. His organization has just released the People-First Chatbot model bill that states can modify. Included in the bill is giving the private right of action when the AI products harm consumers. This product liability is a critical need for states to pass. Big tech companies have already said in court that they are not liable for the harm their product causes.
S2 · E1
22 gen 2026
25:16
Stagione 1
National coalition supports regulating AI to protect the public
Realizing that his young adult children and their generation had been very poorly served by a failed policy experiment to let social media go completely unchecked with no regulation for 20 years, Rob Eleveld, who has an extensive background as the CEO of tech software and data companies, co-founded the Transparency Coalition in 2023. Eleveld talked with podcast host Frank Knapp about the mission of his coalition, which says that the health and well-being of US citizens, especially children, has been an afterthought in the race towards profits masked as innovation. The sexual and suicide grooming of children by AI generated chat boxes are horrific examples of why states should regulate AI. He says that the tech lobby has DC wired so that it won’t pass the AI regulation that President Trump called for in his recent Executive Order, which called for an almost complete ban on states regulating AI. He says that no AI regulation already passed has impacted national security and innovation, the concerns stated by the President. Eleveld lists laws passed in red states that are good examples of needed legislation in every state. His coalition advocates that the AI industry should be held accountable for the harm it causes to our citizens and businesses under existing product liability laws. He says that small businesses in particular are very exposed if they use AI systems because the AI companies shove all liability in the use of their systems onto the business. Eleveld calls for laws to make the developer of the product also liable.
S1 · E47
22 dic 2025
28:55
Sierra Club managing attorney gives update on state efforts to regulate data centers
Dori Jaffe has a difficult job--as the national Sierra Clubs' managing attorney she oversees the organization's work in numerous states advocating the creation of regulations needed to protect consumers from paying higher electric rates due to the growth of data centers. She discusses with podcast host Frank Knapp how large load tariffs and new cost of service models are essential to protect residential and small business electricity customer from subsidizing Google, Meta and other Big Tech companies being served by data centers. Jaffe also dismisses the claims of Big Tech companies that they want to pay their "fair share" of energy costs. She warns that state legislators should understand that these social media giants define "fair share" as simply paying their electric bills, not actually paying for all the new energy generation and transmission costs they are creating. Finally, she discusses models other states have developed and are developing to make sure that consumers are not subsidizing the profits of Big Tech.
S1 · E46
3 dic 2025
25:59
Rep. Brandon Guffey on protecting children from digital threats
Representative Brandon Guffey of York County talks with podcast host Frank Knapp about the loss of his son due to sextortion and what he has and is doing to stop other children from this crime and other threats from Artificial Intelligence industry. He describes how children are being extorted for money and even commit crimes to keep private photos they have shared after being lured into fake online relationships. Rep. Guffey has become a national leader in the effort to protect children from algorithms used by tech companies to push pornography, misinformation, and extreme positions on to children. He says that interactive features like Chatbox AI have even promoted children to commit suicide. Rep. Guffey is passionate about stopping efforts by President Trump and bipartisan members of Congress to stop states from regulating AI. Social media companies are spending hundreds of millions in support of national efforts to pre-empt states from enacting AI regulations. He blames a 1996 law passed by Congress to protect social media companies from being held liable for gross negligence impacting anyone over the age of 13. He blames social media’s deep pockets as the reason Congress has not amended that law to protect children.
S1 · E45
28 nov 2025
28:35
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