Creating Wealth Real Estate Investing with Jason Hartman

It is possible to illustrate complex financial concepts and Jason Hartman interviews author/artist, Carl Richards, who developed a way to do this and led to his book, The Behavior Gap: Simple Ways to Stop Doing Dumb Things with Money. Carl creates simple sketches that help people understand financial concepts, which he refers to as Visualizing Finance. People are primarily visual learners and Carl found that as he made the concepts visual, it was easier to communicate them to others effectively. He shares some of these visualizations, such as the market cycles, explaining the terms he uses and the psychology behind the buy/sell behaviors in the stock market. Using a Venn diagram, he is able to help people realize what they have control over and what they don’t, whether it’s investments or business, and enabling them to make better decisions and simplify their financial life. Carl became an accidental artist with his simple sketches that make complex financial concepts easy to understand for thousands of people every week on The New York Times Bucks blog. Richards’ art had its first showing at the Kimball Art Center, in Park City, Utah. His commissioned work is on display in businesses and educational institutions across the country.

Jason Hartman is joined on this episode by Steve Forbes, the editor in chief of Forbes Media, to propose and attempt to answer the question: Why does government get bigger and bigger when we know it doesn’t work well? Mr. Forbes states that history proves free markets work for the people, while big and over-reaching government is about meeting its own needs. In his book, Freedom Manifesto: Why Free Markets Are Moral and Big Government Isn’t, coauthored with Elizabeth Ames, the authors delve into historic events and statistics, showing that in every instance, big government promotes favoritism, stifles economic growth, dumbs down education, and creates an atmosphere of “rigidity and scarcity.” At the same time, it opens the door to corruption. Mr. Forbes discusses the benefits of economic freedom, which promotes creativity and growth. Jason and Mr. Forbes also talk about current economic issues, including the bubbles that the Fed continues to create in the bond market and housing. “When government undermines money, bad things happen,” laments Mr. Forbes. “When government says it’s here to help, watch out!”

Jason Hartman interviews Bud Conrad, Chief Economist of Casey Research, regarding the geopolitical focal points in our world, funneling these down to how it all affects the United States. Bud mentions the importance of looking at the big picture of what is happening in the world, particularly China becoming the new “mover” in the world, Japan’s apparent desire to destroy its currency, new technology, government overreach, who benefits from inflationary measures and monetary policy, and much more.Author of the new book Profiting from the World's Economic Crisis, Bud Conrad holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Yale and an MBA from Harvard. He has held positions with IBM, CDC, Amdahl, and Tandem. Currently, he serves as a local board member of the National Association of Business Economics and teaches graduate courses in investing at Golden Gate University. Bud, a futures investor for 25 years and a full-time investor for a decade, is also a regular lecturer for American Association of Individual Investors and a frequent contributor on Fox Business News. In addition, he produces original analysis for Casey Research, including unique charts and research on the economy and investment markets.

Today we’re celebrating our 300th episode of The Creating Wealth Show and wish to thank our loyal listeners and all of our fantastic guests who have made this show a success!

On this show, Jason Hartman talks with one of his investment counselors about current events, welcomes a guest caller and also brings to our listening audience the economic outlook from renowned financial expert, John Mauldin. Mauldin discusses “spending rearrangement”, a restructuring of our country’s spending problem and tax code, and how the election outcome influences the direction of that restructuring. The larger the government becomes, the smaller the private sector becomes – not an ideal situation for economic recovery in the U.S. Mauldin gives his insights and the possible scenarios and outcomes that could happen, depending on whether or not the deficit problem is truly solved, touching on investments, job creation, tax issues and trade deficits.John Mauldin is also a New York Times best-selling author and a pioneering online commentator. Each week, over one million readers turn to Mauldin for his penetrating view on Wall Street, global markets and economic history. Mauldin’s weekly e-newsletter, Thoughts from the Frontline, was one of the first publications to provide investors with free, unbiased information and guidance. Today, it is the most widely distributed investment newsletter in the world.Mauldin is a frequent contributor to publications including The Financial Times and The Daily Reckoning, as well as a regular guest on CNBC, Yahoo Tech Ticker, and Bloomberg TV. His best-selling books include Bull’s Eye Investing, Just One Thing and Endgame, as well as his recently released update to Bull’s Eye Investing – The Little Book of Bull’s Eye Investing.

Join Jason Hartman and investment counselor, Steve, as they discuss a few news topics critical to your success as a real estate investor. Jason and Steve start by discussing a recent article by Kiplinger’s that discusses the top IRS audit red flags. Income property investors should be cautious when claiming rental losses and the home office deduction, as these are frequent themes in IRS audits. Then another look at how 15 billion dollars in gold was recently repatriated from JP Morgan’s vaults in London. Is this the sign of imminent economic collapse? As are many, this particular listener expressed concern about governments seizing rental properties in the event of extreme fiscal crisis. Is diversifying over seas a way to hedge against this risk? Jason lays out the reasons why the US, no matter the fiscal threat, is still the best place in the world to buy income producing real estate.

Join Jason Hartman as he discusses some good takeaways from attendees, speakers and panel discussions at Meet The Masters of Income Property.Here's a sampling:• Best Practices in Property Management• Jason Hartman: The Next 10 Commandments• Market Profile: Atlanta, Georgia• The Power of Analysis• Market & Property Evaluation• Entity Structures for Asset Protection• Cost Effective Property Insurance Nationwide• Market Profile: St. Robert, Missouri• Mortgage Lender Panel - Overcoming Challenges: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly• Financing Investment Real Estate• Getting Your Investments Organized for Success• Peter - Tax Strategies of Wealthy Investors• Reed - Market Profile: San Marcos, Texas• The Power of Exchange: IRS 1031 Best Practices• Mortgage & Financial Planning• Market Profile: St. Louis Missouri• Income Property in Your IRA & Roth Conversion

Jason Hartman is joined by author and real estate investor, Barb Getty, as she talks about her journey into real estate investing, what it takes to be a good landlord or property manager, how to find and keep great tenants, and explains the eviction process. The second of four children, Barb was born and raised in Gary, IN. She graduated cum laude from Purdue and married soon after. After seven moves in nine years of marriage, her family settled in Indianapolis.Tragedy struck in 1992 when her 17-year-old son was killed in a car accident. Her daughters were 16 and 14 at the time. Sadly, Barb’s 21-year marriage ended eight months after Todd’s death. She bought a small home needing repairs, and following the fix-up, she and her daughters moved in.Pleased with that first project, Barb purchased her first duplex (with little money, no credit and no experience), hoping she had the wherewithal to be a landlord. Today, she owns 27+ units -- a mix of single and multi-family, low and middle income rentals. CNBC.com interviewed her recently and the article also appeared in USA Today. Barb has also added high-end property management, consulting and speaking engagements to her business.Although she hasn’t had an easy road, Barb is both financially and emotionally invested in her work. She invites people to watch a video showing scenes she faces as a landlord in the inner city. It’s very compelling. Barb authored The Landlord Chronicles: Investing in Low and Middle Income Rentals, published in 2010. Armed with a positive attitude and a strong sense of humor, Barb Getty is making a difference in her tenants’ lives, the neighborhood and the city as well.

Jason Hartman and prior guest, Jonathan Emord, get together once again to talk about current issues affecting our rights, beginning with the damaging and highly intrusive passing of the tax provision of Obama’s healthcare plan. This has created a fissure in the Constitution, a horrible outcome that opens a door to the government violating our civil liberties. Jonathan breaks down the consequences of the violations, such as our liberty to choose and right to privacy in the interest of a government mandate that only benefits the government. Moving on to TSA, Jonathan divulges the massive problems with this act. “The TSA is an institution that is riddled with corruption and riddled with abuse,” he explains. The elderly, pregnant women, infants and disabled individuals with no record of criminal activity are being subjected to humiliating and highly intrusive searches all over the U.S. Jonathan defines the difference in tactics from a defensive position versus an offensive position, with the latter producing far better results. He advocates training the citizenry to be more aware of suspicious behavior and to better defend themselves. Jonathan gives an update on the work against the FDA and the First Amendment.Jonathan W. Emord is one of the nation’s leading free speech attorneys. He has defeated the Food and Drug Administration a remarkable eight times in federal court, more times than any other attorney in American history, earning him the title, “FDA Dragon Slayer.” He is the 2007 recipient of the Cancer Control Society’s Humanitarian Award for “winning and preserving our great civil rights to life, to liberty, and to health freedoms.” He is the only non-scientist ever appointed to the Certification Board for Nutrition Specialists and serves as that organization’s Vice Chair. In 2010, he became the first person awarded the title “Honorary Nutrition Specialist” by the CBNS. Congressman Ron Paul says “[a]ll freedom-loving Americans are in debt to Jonathan Emord for his courtroom [victories]” and calls him a “hero of the health freedom revolution.” Formerly an attorney in the Reagan Administration’s Federal Communications Commission, Emord has practiced constitutional and administrative law in Washington, D.C. for the past twenty-five years. He has been a Guest Lecturer, Georgetown University, Department of Biochemistry, Course in Nutrition.

When the United States stopped backing dollars with gold in 1968, the nature of money changed, becoming the fiat currency system that has now put the world into an unprecedented recession. Jason Hartman is joined by returning guest, Richard Duncan, to talk about how we are in danger of a global Great Depression and how we can stop it. Richard’s previous book talked about the inevitable collapse of the dollar, and his new book discusses “a new theoretical construct, The Quantity Theory of Credit, that is the key to understanding not only the developments that led to the crisis, but also to understanding how events will play out in the years ahead.” Richard explains how the expansion of credit eventually implodes and the dangers of the contraction of credit. Richard Duncan is the author of three books on the global economic crisis. The Dollar Crisis: Causes, Consequences, Cures (John Wiley & Sons, 2003, updated 2005), predicted the current global economic disaster with extraordinary accuracy. It was an international bestseller. His second book was The Corruption of Capitalism: A strategy to rebalance the global economy and restore sustainable growth. It was published by CLSA Books in December 2009. His latest book is The New Depression: The Breakdown of the Paper Money Economy (John Wiley & Sons, 2012). Since beginning his career as an equities analyst in Hong Kong in 1986, Richard has served as global head of investment strategy at ABN AMRO Asset Management in London, worked as a financial sector specialist for the World Bank in Washington D.C., and headed equity research departments for James Capel Securities and Salomon Brothers in Bangkok. He also worked as a consultant for the IMF in Thailand during the Asia Crisis. He is now chief economist at Blackhorse Asset Management in Singapore.

Jason Hartman talks with a listener about local vs. long distance real estate investing and how geography is less meaningful than ever before in history. Then today’s guest is loan manager, stock trader and financial columnist, Logan Mohtashami with a no-spin discussion on the fiscal cliff and other current events.Logan Mohtashami is a senior loan officer at his family owned mortgage company AMC Lending Group, which has been providing mortgage services for California residents since 1988. Logan is also a financial columnist for Benzinga.com and contributor for BusinessInsider.com and writes on financial matter relating to the housing market and basic economics.

Jason Hartman is joined by returning guest and best-selling author of The Creature from Jekyll Island, G. Edward Griffin, for a discussion of the hot topic of the United States’ “fiscal cliff.” As Mr. Griffin shares, the fiscal cliff is nothing new. It has been there for roughly 50 years and applying a name to it now is a scare tactic by the government. Mr. Griffin talks about fractional reserve banking and how it has led to the economic mess our country and world are in today. It is no longer a fractional reserve; it is at zero reserve and Mr. Griffin feels the economy is going to collapse from all of the borrowing to pay old debt. This will lead to a fully regimented society, which Mr. Griffin describes as drifting toward totalitarian, a scary concept. He goes on to discuss short and long term ways to protect ourselves, preserving any wealth one might have, and being prepared as much as possible for anything that may come to pass. He feels the Fed will continue to inflate, raise taxes for a while, and then probably cut taxes again at some point. It will be more of the same, more and more governmental control over our lives, more and more money created out of nothing, and less and less freedom. G. Edward Griffin is a writer and documentary film producer with many successful titles to his credit. Listed in Who’s Who in America, he is well known because of his talent for researching difficult topics and presenting them in clear terms that all can understand. He has dealt with such diverse subjects as archaeology and ancient Earth history, the Federal Reserve System and international banking, terrorism, internal subversion, the history of taxation, U.S. foreign policy, the science and politics of cancer therapy, the Supreme Court, and the United Nations. His better-known works include The Creature from Jekyll Island, World without Cancer, The Discovery of Noah’s Ark, Moles in High Places, The Open Gates of Troy, No Place to Hide, The Capitalist Conspiracy, More Deadly than War, The Grand Design, The Great Prison Break, and The Fearful Master.Mr. Griffin is a graduate of the University of Michigan where he majored in speech and communications. In preparation for writing his book on the Federal Reserve System, he enrolled in the College for Financial Planning located in Denver, Colorado. His goal was not to become a professional financial planner but to better understand the real world of investments and money markets. He obtained his CFP designation (Certified Financial Planner) in 1989.

The study of aging has always been fascinating, and in today’s society, we have found ways to look and feel younger. Is it possible that science has evolved to the point that in the very near future we will all live longer, healthier lives? Jason Hartman’s guest, Sonia Arrison, says yes. Advances in gene therapy, stem cell research and personalized medicine means that the human lifespan is ever increasing. Sonia wants to make people aware that we need to push for longevity. Sonia Arrison is the author of 100+, How the Coming Age of Longevity Will Change Everything from Careers and Relationships to Family and Health. She addresses diseases that increase aging, making the distinction between lifespan and healthspan and explains different studies, including observing how various conditions affect human genomes. She also talks about the engineering of new body parts from stem cells, spray-on skin used by the military, and more. Sonia and Jason discuss the effects of healthy longevity on relationships, such as having a bigger generational impact on families, and the economic impact. Sonia Arrison is a bestselling author and technology analyst who has studied the impact of new technologies on society for more than a decade. Her book is a national bestseller and has been featured in top media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, MSNBC, Bloomberg News, Fox News, CBS, and the Today Show. As a founder, academic advisor, and trustee at Singularity University, she is focused on exponentially growing technologies and their impact on society. She is a columnist for TechNewsWorld and was formerly director of the Technology Studies department at the Pacific Research Institute (PRI) in San Francisco.

Coming to us from London, Max Keiser joins Jason Hartman for a fast-paced interview about what is going on in our world with GDP, the debt ceiling and debt loads, gold and silver markets, and currency collapse. Max is the host of “The Oracle with Max Keiser” for BBC World News and the author of the Keiser Report. Jason and Max discuss how long the world governments can put off the inevitable collapse of the fiat money produced by the central banks. Max talks about the various currencies around the world and which countries are set to implode. Other topics that Max covers are countries that are losing their sovereignty, basically being held hostage and managed by entities outside of their own country, such as the IMF and Central Banks, how bonds play a role in this issue, and the edging toward a global tax. Max talks about the many ways that the world is being led into a globalized currency, which is not a theory, but happening in real time. In addition to hosting the show and authoring the Kesier Report, Max is a blogger for the Huffington Post, and he has also presented features for the “People and Power” new magazine series on Aljazeera English. Max Keiser is the creator, co-founder and former CEO of HSX Holdings/Hollywood Stock Exchange, later sold to Cantor Fitzgerald. He is also the co-founder of HSX films that went on to make almost a dozen films, including "Mixed Signals," "Six-String Samurai," "Dancer, Texas Pop. 81," and "girl." The company was then sold to Ignite Entertainment/Lionsgate. Max designed, scoped, and built the Hollywood Stock Exchange with Michael Burns. Max was awarded a US patent (number 5950176) for the 'Virtual Specialist Technology" on which the Hollywood Stock Exchange operates. He created virtual securities; MovieStocks, and StarBonds and created the first fully convertible virtual currency, the Hollywood Dollar. The Hollywood Stock Exchange remains the highest volume stock exchange in the world.

On this episode, Jason Hartman interviews Dave Krieger, author of Clouded Titles, and an investigative journalist, for a fascinating look at the MERS mess, the foreclosure crisis, and get Dave’s outlook on things. Dave says there are an anticipated 4 million homes yet to go into foreclosure. Dave explains some of the problems happening across the country with titles, defining “quiet title,” that he says homeowners tend to look at as a silver bullet to clear a title. He cautions these homeowners to seek legal counsel before considering this option. Dave also talks about the issues surrounding MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems) that have left many homeowners in trouble, and caused problems for title companies and investors. The biggest problems with this come when investors are trying to buy properties at foreclosure auction. Buried in the mortgage paperwork are statements that allow MERS to foreclose, leaving title companies to scramble to stop the action and coming up against clouded titles missing legal descriptions and other information, causing serious problems for investors. Dave Krieger is a former major market radio news reporter and news director and television news reporter/anchorman and investigative journalist, who won national and state news awards from Associated Press Broadcasters. Dave was a former member of Radio and Television News Directors Association. Dave began studying law in early 1990; specializing in real estate, tort, consumer credit and collection issues. His first self-published work, The Credit Restoration Primer, a 263-page, self-help, credit repair book, was first released in 1995 and is now entering its 4th Edition. Dave currently serves as a paralegal and legal research analyst for Wade Kricken, an attorney in Dallas, Texas, who specializes in consumer and real estate law and foreclosure defense.

Jason Hartman is joined by Larry Muck, the Executive Director of the American Association of Private Lenders, to talk about the AAPL’s history, mission and vision. Larry explains what private lenders are doing for people that the banks can’t do, and how the AAPL is trying to organize the efforts of private lending. AAPL was formed to help raise the standards in the industry and develop a brand that could be used by private lenders to prove credibility and trust. Larry also discusses the needs of investors and the various tools now available to support investors and lenders. Larry shares his passion for fair dealing and excellence in lending as the Executive Director of the American Association of Private Lenders. He brings to this position the experiences gained through a 30 year career in banking. During that span, he served in many leadership and lending capacities, including serving as Executive Vice President for a regional bank with a $220 million portfolio of commercial, consumer, construction, and mortgage loans. Additionally he served as Community President for Gold Bank in Saint Joseph, Missouri and transitioned to Regional EVP with Marshall and Ilsely Bank in Kansas City. His well rounded background includes experience in Loan Review and serving for two years as the Corporate Training Director for a $15B regional bank holding company. Throughout his career, Larry has had a passion for community service, serving in various leadership capacities with organizations such as United Way, the Allied Arts Council, St. Joseph Preservation, Inc. and many others. His interests lie in all outdoor sporting activities, basketball, and cooking. His passion for music and serving Christ led him to serve as guitarist and backup vocalist for his church’s worship band for five years. He received his secondary education through the University of Kansas, home of the fabulous KU Jayhawks Basketball team, and completed both his undergraduate and master degrees in Business Administration there.

Tracking foreclosure stats and trends can be deceiving due to shadow inventory. Jason Hartman’s guest, Sean O’Toole, founder of Foreclosure Radar, explains the foreclosure rate, the “foreclosure hangover,” the slow increase in home prices, and much more. Sean and Jason also talk about the price differences and inventory in the California markets, and the fallacy of a “Foreclosure Wave” in the nation, regardless of who is nominated in the Presidential election. Sean defines the judicial and non-judicial markets and all of the distractions that have slowed down our recovery. He defends the MERS system, despite its flaws, because our current system is completely broken.Prior to launching ForeclosureRadar, Sean successfully purchased and flipped more than 150 residential and commercial foreclosures. Leveraging 15 years in the software industry, Sean used technology as a key competitive advantage to build his successful real estate investment track record. Sean has always thrived in startup environments, and as such, became a key contributor at Xing Technology (acquired by Real Networks), ISI/GlobalCenter (acquired by Global Crossing), and Icarian, Inc.(acquired by Workstream, Inc.). With his extensive experience in computers, software development, and business processes, Sean moved easily into VP and Director level positions in engineering, product management, sales, marketing and operations. Sean also served as President of the OpenMPEG Consortium, which brought together 32 companies to define industry standards for video on personal computers.

Jason Hartman and Karl Deninger, author of Leverage and his blog, “The Market Ticker,” get together to discuss the economic structural imbalances around the world. Karl started “The Market Ticker” to warn investors about impending ruptures in the stock market after he figured out the illegal methods happening in the tech boom and crash that left many of his friends bankrupt. He stresses the importance of knowing how we got where we are today and offers solutions to actually put the system back together on a sustainable basis. In his book, Leverage, Larry explains the problem in that all geometric systems are unsustainable for the long term, such as Medicare/Medicaid, trade deficits, deflation from productivity, deflation of fiat money, and much more.Mr. Denninger is the former CEO of MCSNet, a regional Chicago area networking and Internet company that operated from 1987 to 1998. MCSNet was proud to offer several "firsts" in the Internet Service space, including integral customer-specified spam filtering for all customers and the first virtual web server available to the general public. Mr. Denninger's other accomplishments include the design and construction of regional and national IP-based networks and development of electronic conferencing software reaching back to the 1980s.He has been a full-time trader since 1998, author of The Market Ticker (http://market-ticker.org), a daily market commentary, and operator of TickerForum, an online trading community, both since 2007.

Private equity is a type of investing where you deploy capital in companies privately rather than in the public market. Here to talk about this subject with Jason Hartman is David Carey, author of King of Capital, and senior writer for “The Deal.” David explains the various forms, including injecting money into companies to help them grow faster, and the most common form, a leverage buyout (LBO). In an LBO, private equity firms are not responsible for paying down the debt, unlike a homeowner who pays off a mortgage. Instead, the company that is being acquired takes on the debt and retires it over time using its own cash flow. David notes that most private equity firms outperform stocks and bonds by a wide margin, not just through the use of leverage, but also from improving the profitability of the companies they acquire. David goes on to share his thoughts on the attacks on private equity, Bing Capital and Mitt Romney. Dispelling the political negative caricature of the private equity business, David shares how these firms have helped numerous companies prosper, allowing for quicker new job growth. Bing Capital was an exception, having piled on too much debt, and naturally, the Obama campaign took a potshot at the firm and private equity firms in general.DAVID CAREY is senior writer for The Deal, a news service and magazine covering private-equity and mergers and acquisitions. Before joining The Deal, he was the editor of Corporate Finance magazine and wrote for Adweek, Fortune, Institutional Investor, and Financial World. Carey has appeared often on CNBC. He holds two masters degrees: one in French literature from Princeton and a second in journalism from Columbia. He earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Washington.

Between 1980 and 2000, the wealth of our nation grew enormously. Interest rates dropped, dot com businesses grew, and then the housing market was rocketing. We then went into a tricky period where overall net worth grew a bit until the dot com crash; the middle class was sustained to some degree by the housing boom, and then dropped sharply with the housing crash. Dr. H. Woody Brock, President and Founder of Strategic Economic Decisions and author of American Gridlock, joins Jason Hartman for an in-depth explanation of the financial health of our nation across social classes. Dr. Brock discusses the nation overall and then breaks it down into the rich, the middle class, and the poor. The distribution of wealth have left the poor worse off and the rich very well off, as well as shrinking the middle class, but as Dr. Brock explains, looking at the distribution of consumption, the poor and middle classes are in a better position than when looking at the distribution of income. Dr. Brock also expounds on QE3, the Federal Reserve actions, bank reserves, de-leveraging, and more. He wraps up on the subject of his book, American Gridlock: Why the Right and Left are Both Wrong.Founder of Strategic Economic Decisions (SED), Inc., Dr. Horace “Woody” Brock specializes in applications of the modern Economics of Uncertainty (originally developed and championed by Kenneth J. Arrow of Stanford University) to forecasting and risk assessment in the international economy and its asset markets. Holder of five academic degrees, Dr. Brock earned his B.A., M.B.A., and M.S. (mathematics) from Harvard University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University (mathematical economics and political philosophy). He was elected an Andrew Mellon Foundation Bicentennial Fellow of the Aspen Institute in 1976. Dr. Brock studied under Kenneth J. Arrow, Professor of Economics, and John C. Harsanyi, Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley, both winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics. Dr. Brock founded SED in 1985, and in doing so was sponsored by Fidelity, GE Capital, IBM Pension Fund, and twenty other institutions looking for a much deeper level of analysis of interest rates and the economy. In its research, SED has focused on apprehending ongoing structural changes in the economy and markets to help clients avoid the pitfalls of illegitimately extrapolating the past into the future. In this regard, Dr. Brock has worked closely with Professor Mordecai Kurz of Stanford University in developing the new theory of Rational Beliefs that is now replacing the classical theory of “Efficient Markets”. This new theory explains for the first time the way in which history rhymes but does not repeat itself.

Jason talks briefly about some upcoming events and Creating Wealth shows.

With the November Presidential election right around the corner, nothing could be more timely or more important than understanding the electronic voting system and the risk to our right for a fair and honest voting system. Jason Hartman interviews Black Box Voting founder, Bev Harris, who was featured in the HBO documentary, “Hacking Democracy,” and has been researching and writing on the subject of electronic voting since 2002 after she discovered that U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel had ownership in and had been CEO of the company that built the machines which counted his own votes. Bev shares the seriousness of the situation, explaining that the monopoly on the manufacturing of the machines gives the corporate owners (shareholders) complete control over voting outcomes, and that the structural problems with electronic voting prevent the public from being able to authenticate.Vanity Fair magazine credits Bev Harris with founding the movement to reform electronic voting. Time Magazine calls her book, Black Box Voting, "the bible" of electronic voting. The Boston Globe has referred to her as "the godmother" of the election reform movement. Her articles were among the first to reveal that modern-day voting systems are run by private for-profit corporations, relying on a few cronies for oversight, using a certification system so fundamentally flawed that it allows machines to miscount and lose votes, with hidden back doors that enable "end runs" around the voting system.Bev’s investigations have led some to call her the "Erin Brockovich of elections." (Salon.com) In 2003, just weeks after a stunning electoral upset in Georgia that tipped control of the U.S. Senate, she discovered 40,000 secret voting machine files -- including a set of files called "rob-georgia," containing instructions to replace Georgia's computerized voting files before the election. The files she found contained databases with votes in them and the voting machine programs themselves. She downloaded the files on Jan. 23, 2003 and set them free on the Internet a few months later, where they were studied by scientists and security experts.

Jason Hartman has his mom back on the show to discuss her DIY property management/self-management strategies and one of her tenants who has occupying a property for 23 years - no vacancy! Then Jason interviews his Birmingham, Alabama Local Market Specialist (LMS) and talks to a caller/listener with some good real estate investing questions.Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia on this market:Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. The city's population was 212,237 according to the 2010 United States Census. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area had a population of about 1,128,047 according to the 2010 Census, which is approximately one-quarter of Alabama's population. Birmingham was founded in 1871, during the post-Civil War Reconstruction period, through the merger of three pre-existing farm towns, notably, former Elyton. It grew from there, annexing many more of its smaller neighbors, into an industrial and railroad transportation center with a focus on mining, the iron and steel industry, and railroading. Birmingham was named for Birmingham, one of the major industrial cities of the United Kingdom. Many, if not most, of the original settlers who founded Birmingham were of English ancestry. In one writer's view, the city was planned as a place where cheap, non-unionized, and African-American labor from rural Alabama could be employed in the city's steel mills and blast furnaces, giving it a competitive advantage over industrial cities in the Midwest and Northeast.From its founding through the end of the 1960s, Birmingham was a primary industrial center of the South. The pace of Birmingham's growth during the period from 1881 through 1920 earned its nicknames The Magic City andThe Pittsburgh of the South. Much like Pittsburgh, Birmingham's major industries were iron and steel production, plus a major component of the railroading industry, where rails and railroad cars were both manufactured in Birmingham. In the field of railroading, the two primary hubs of railroading in the Deep South were nearby Atlanta and Birmingham, beginning in the 1860s and continuing through to the present day. The economy diversified during the later half of the twentieth century. Though the manufacturing industry maintains a strong presence in Birmingham, other businesses and industries such as banking, telecommunications, transportation, electrical power transmission, medical care, college education, and insurance have risen in stature. Mining in the Birmingham area is no longer a major industry with the exception of coal mining. Birmingham ranks as one of the most important business centers in the Southeastern United States and is also one of the largest banking centers in the United States. In addition, the Birmingham area serves as headquarters to one Fortune 500 company:Regions Financial. Five Fortune 1000 companies are headquartered in Birmingham. In the field of college and university education, Birmingham has been the location of the University of Alabama School of Medicine (formerly known as the Medical College of Alabama) and the University of Alabama School of Dentistry since 1947, and since that time, it has also become provided with the University of Alabama at Birmingham (founded circa 1969), one of three main campuses of the University of Alabama, and also with the private Birmingham-Southern College. Between these two universities and Samford University, the Birmingham area has major colleges of medicine, dentistry, optometry, pharmacy, law, engineering, and nursing. Birmingham is home to three of the state's five law schools: Cumberland School of Law, Birmingham School of Law, and Miles Law School. Birmingham is also the headquarters of the Southeastern Conference, one of the major U.S. collegiate athletic conferences.

When people think of addiction, the most common thought is drug or alcohol addiction and the stereotypical image of people with these addictions, but as Jason Hartman’s guest, life coach David Essel, explains, addiction comes in numerous forms and is very prevalent in our country. In fact, he guarantees that every person in this country is suffering from one form of addiction or another. Examples of addictions include such things as: spending, greed, power, being right, controlling others, nicotine, food, gossip and many more. David is passionate about helping people understand addictions and learning how to lead full and inspiring lives. His focus is on finding The One Thing™ that will radically change your life. David stresses the importance of not viewing one addiction to be worse than another because it opens the door to walking away from recovery. He shares his own story of alcohol addiction and the view he held before recovery versus the view he realized once he was sober. David also discusses the process of recovery, which starts with becoming accountable to someone else.David Essel, M.S. is an author of six books, National Radio and Television host, Master Life and Business Coach, Adjunct Professor, All Faiths Minister, Addiction Recovery Coach and International Speaker. His mission is to inspire others to reach their own exceptional potential in their business and personal life. His radio show, which is celebrating 21 years on air, is the most respected, purely positive radio show in the USA. "David Essel Alive!" is heard on XM Satellite Radio, Channel 168, and streaming live on the web at www.davidessel.com, every Saturday from 6-9pm EST, 3-6pm PST.

Jason Hartman is joined by George Farah, author of No Debate: How the Republican and Democratic Parties Secretly Control the Presidential Debates, and founder of Open Debates, for an inside look at how the presidential debates are a rigged game. George refers to the debates as “the Super Bowl of politics.” So what really goes on in the debates? The people would like to know. As George explains, the debates are tightly controlled by the Commission on Presidential Debates through scripting, strict time limits, and the exclusion of third-party candidates. This commission is supposed to be non-partisan, but the reality is it’s a private corporation that was created by the Republican and Democratic parties and financed by companies like Anheuser-Busch, to allow the two main party nominees to dictate the terms of the presidential debates. A secret contract is negotiated by the Republican and Democratic parties and given to the Commission to implement. Third-party candidates have been excluded repeatedly from the debates and the questions that the American people have are restricted and manipulated by the Commission.

Jason Hartman welcomes guest co-host/listener, Brandon, from Portland, Oregon as they discuss several things. First, a discussion of some of Jason's recent book consumption including; Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler and Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson.Next, Jason and Brandon analyze Peter Schiff's most recent video criticizing Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and QE3 (Quantitative Easing). Peter has some things right and others wrong. As Jason has pointed out in so many prior episodes gold and silver are mediocre asset classes and shouldn't really be considered 'investments' but rather defensive ways to save money, a way to store wealth and keep pace with inflation. An investment is an OFFENSIVE tool, gold and silver are only defensive tools. The real way to profit is to exploit the next housing bubble.

Jason Hartman is joined by Dr. Steve Sjuggerrud, editor for Stansberry Research, for a discussion of real estate investing domestic and international, attractive mortgage rates, and government deals that are making real estate a much more attractive investment. Steve talks about what he calls the “Bernanke Asset Bubble,” where the Fed would like to see a booming real estate market and stock market to get the country back on its feet. Jason and Steve also talk about the demographics of the rental market and comparative returns of the rental market and stocks.Dr. Steve Sjuggerud is the founder and editor of one of the largest financial newsletters in the world, True Wealth. Since inception in 2001, True Wealth readers have made money every year with safe, contrarian investment ideas. Steve did his PhD dissertation on international currencies, he's traveled to dozens of countries looking at investment ideas, and he's run mutual funds, hedge funds, and investment research departments. Steve's investment philosophy is simple: "You buy something of extraordinary value at a time when nobody else wants it. And you sell it at a time when people are willing to pay any price to get it." It's harder than it sounds, but Steve continues to be able to do just that for his readers.

A quick announcement that due to popular demand, the Atlanta Property Tour is now sold out. Stay tuned for your next chance to participate in a property tour with Jason Hartman.

Jason Hartman talks with one of his Investment Counselors, Steve, about a Naked Capitalism blog post on the new real estate train wreck in securitized rentals. Wall Street's newest "innovation" based on rental income. Will this be another Wall Street scam like the pools of subprime mortgages, auction rate securities, derivatives or numerous other products that were misrepresented to investors. Next up, a discussion of the 'lost decade' for the American middle class based on a Newser article and some talk about the investor-driven recovery in real estate.

While the last several years have seen huge losses for most investors in stocks, it has provided some valuable insights and allowed development of new concepts for stock investing. Jason Hartman talks with Dr. Chris Kacher and Gil Morales, principles and managing directors of Virtue of Selfish Investing, LLC and MoKa Investors, LLC, regarding their take on the markets, particularly commodities. Chris and Gil explain their investment philosophy and concepts born out of frustration with other market strategies failing, relating how they were able to get through the market crash and the continued instability. One of the concepts is the Pocket Pivot, a favorable entry point in a stock before it breaks out of the stock base. Gil and Chris also share their outlook on stocks, commodities, currencies and inflation.Dr. Chris Kacher is a stock investor and strategist with a background in the nuclear sciences. He is a co-founder of a stock advisory service, VirtueOfSelfishInvesting.com. Chris Kacher is a protégé of William O’Neil. He is known for achieving a total return of 18,241% during the period of 1996 to 2002 which he describes in his book Trade Like an O’Neil Disciple: How We Made 18,000% in the Stock Market co-authored with Gil Morales. Prior to his career as a stock trader, Dr. Chris Kacher pursued an education in the nuclear sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. He won a Charles D. Coryell Award while being undergraduate. As a graduate student he contributed to the confirmation of the existence of Seaborgium and a synthesis of an atom of Darmstadtium. He received a Doctor of Nuclear Chemistry degree in 1995. In 2009, Chris Kacher released a debut album of his piano compositions Teardrop Rain under a stage name of Christian Casher. He is a certified practitioner of neuro-linguistic programming and hypnosis.

Jason Hartman starts this episode of The Creating Wealth Show with a candid discussion about some internal workings in his business, properties in Indianapolis and Memphis. The disastrous political policies that lead Detroit into economic devastation and high crime rates. Jason Hartman interviews Keith Fitz-Gerald, the Chairman of The Fitz-Gerald Group and Chief Investment Strategist at Money Map Press. A bestselling financial author, Keith's investment perspective is a daily feature for more than 500,000 Money Morning subscribers in 35 countries. A frequent commentator for financial news outlets including Fox Business, Bloomberg, CNBC Asia, Cavuto, Varney & Company, BNN, MarketWatch, and others, Keith Fitz-Gerald is among an elite handful of world-recognized experts on global investing.Keith tours constantly on the financial lecture circuit alongside other legendary investor analysts including Jim Rogers, Steve Forbes, and Dr. Mark Faber and was lauded as a "Business Visionary" on the recent Forbes.com list. His engaging style and remarkable predictive record resonates with his audiences in North America, Europe, and Asia; investors and business leaders eager for Keith's insights into how colossal global economic, social, and political trends are disrupting the paradigms of the last 50 years to create the most extraordinary investment opportunities of our lifetimes. The investment community praised Keith's recent book Fiscal Hangover (Wiley) as "Essential reading for every serious investor" and "A brilliant, spirited explanation of the origins of the current mess and more importantly how you can cleverly turn the chaos to your advantage.". His upcoming book Tomorrow (Sutton Hart 2012) spotlights today's global trends and offers a road map for business leaders and investors to profitably navigate the turbulent waters of unprecedented global change.

Jason Hartman is joined by contributing author for GoldMoney.com, Alasdair MacLeod for a rousing discussion of the decline of the European economy, the mistakes of the European Central Bank and EU, and how “governments are eating their own children.” Alasdair makes a rather accurate comparison between the fall of Rome and the current economic disaster around the world, calling it the Nero influence. Governments continue to spend money and introduce new taxes that are detrimental to the people they serve. The ECB is now lowering collateral standards as they run out of quality collateral, such as taking on mortgage-backed securities, in exchange for helping banks and governments. Alasdair said the real problem among Greece, Spain, Italy and other countries in crisis is that they are broke, yet they continue to meet to discuss increasing spending to build infrastructure and creating token taxes. Governments the world round are in a debt trap, including the U.S. Alasdair feels there is only one way to defer the imminent fall and that is for the Central Banks to come together and put into play quantitative easing. Governments would then need to seriously cut their excessive, wasteful spending.

Jason Hartman is joined by author, Scott Patterson to discuss high frequency trading, of which roughly 70 percent is driven by computers. Scott says the firms using artificial intelligence for high-speed trading make it nearly impossible for the little guy to compete in the markets. According to his book, Dark Pools, these robot systems trade in milliseconds. High frequency firms flood the market with buy and sell orders, effectively clogging up the system and posing a threat to other firms. While this electronic exchange made the system more effective, one has to wonder if this trading style hasn’t become detrimental to the markets overall when trading successfully is defined by milliseconds. Scott coined the term “A.I. Bandits” to describe electronic high frequency trading. Scott also discusses the history of quant strategies based on his book, The Quants, a mathematical scientific approach to outsmarting Wall Street, which led to the recent financial crash. He calls the quant system “a classic tale of hubris.”Scott Patterson is author of The Quants and his new release, Dark Pools, and is currently a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, where he covers financial regulation from Washington, D.C. He has also written for the New York Times, Rolling Stone and Mother Earth News. He has a Masters of Arts degree from James Madison University. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Jason Hartman answers client questions, discusses the organization of your real estate portfolio and is interviewed by Future Money Trends. During the interview, Jason discusses the multi-dimensional nature of income property and the one-dimensional or maybe two-dimensional nature of other investments as well as the demand equation. They can outsource all the manufacturing jobs to China, they can outsource all the call centers and administrative jobs to India or the Philippines, they can even "outsource" retail shopping to the internet; however, so long as the U.S. population is increasing there will be increased demand for housing. This is especially true with all the home-based business and corporate people working at home. Even Fortune 1000 companies are telling some of their employees to work at home. Remember that people only have three choices 1) buy, 2) rent or 3) be homeless. Be sure to join Jason and his team in Atlanta, Georgia.

Relationship expert and best-selling author, Dr. John Gray, joins Jason Hartman to talk about research studies and Dr. Gray’s new work, “Boys to Men.” Dr. Gray talks about how his observations have been backed up by and further explained by brain studies, showing obvious differences between men and women in brain function and hormones that affect health and behavior. He offers a deeper explanation of these differences based on scientific research showing how activities particular to each gender, diet, and an increased existence of xenoestrogens in our environment play a significant role in hormonal balance and imbalance. Dr. Gray discusses the proper use of supplements and the dangers of pharmaceuticals. This leads into his new work regarding healthy male development and his upcoming new book, Boys to Men, a look at how boys have been affected by today’s culture, showing a higher dropout rate than girls, lower comprehension, and higher instances of boredom and depression. The high carbohydrate diet we consume plays a big role in this trend, and he cites inflammation in the brain as one factor in decreased comprehension. He describes activities, diet and supplements that can alleviate inflammation and stress and bring about optimal health in both men and women.John Gray, Ph.D. is the best-selling relationship author of all time and the most trusted voice in relationships today. He is the author of 17 books, including The New York Times #1 Best-Selling Book of the last decade, MEN ARE FROM MARS, WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS. His 17 books have sold over 50 million copies in 50 different languages around the world. John is a leading internationally recognized expert in the fields of communication and relationships. His unique focus is assisting men and women in understanding, respecting and appreciating their differences.

Jason Hartman starts with a discussion about the recent Facebook IPO scandal. Morgan Stanley and the other IPO underwriters gave the bad news to their big clients about Facebook having a bad quarter but didn't bother to tell their financial advisors and individual clients about this - more bad behavior on Wall Street? Short Bloomberg News clip. What would Eliot Spitzer think of Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman?

Jason Hartman's monologue on episode #268 covers a range of topics, including:Some thoughts on 3-D Printing and how it may mean fewer U.S. manufacturing jobs in the near term, Paul and Wohlers say the growing number of factories that likely will relocate to the U.S. should yield a net increase in employment. The last show on "Abundance - The Future is Better Than You Think" and Jason's desire to have Alvin Toffler and or Heidi Toffler on a future episode - American writer and futurist, known for works discussing the digital revolution, communication revolution, corporate revolution and technological singularity. Works include: Future Shock, The Third Wave, Power Shift, Revolutionary Wealth, Creating a new civilization, War and Anti-War.Marcus and Millichap survey showing strong rental markets with limited rental housing supply and increasing rents in 39 markets nationwide.

Despite the grim, doom-and-gloom events occurring in our world today, emerging technologies will make it possible to overcome challenges and bring about significant abundance. Jason Hartman interviews Steven Kotler, co-author of the book, “Abundance,” also co-authored by Peter Diamandis.Steven talks about the four forces bringing about abundance, explaining how improvements and new developments in communication technology have already brought many people around the globe out of poverty by bringing more and more brilliant minds online. Medical technology advances will make it possible to diagnose illnesses and disease from home, without incurring the costs of physician and lab fees. People may soon be able to pick IBM’s supercomputer Watson’s brain online for free. There have been huge advancements in online education technologies.Steven and Jason also discuss population control by raising the standard of living through clean water, education, and good healthcare. Steven points out the domino effect of continuously improving technologies that allow for higher standards of living and better health. He also talks about the “network effect,” how it affects people and governments around the world, leading to amazing innovations and changes from surprising sources.There have been incredible advancements in clean water and food production. The answer to saving biodiversities that cannot be replaced is freeing up land and repurposing it. Vertical gardening is one new process that provides more food in less space, while dropping the transportation costs of farming to zero.Steven Kotler is a bestselling author and an award-winning journalist. His books include the non-fiction works: Abundance, A Small, Furry Prayer, and West of Jesus, and the novel The Angle Quickest for Flight. His articles have appeared in over 60 publications, including: New York Times Magazine, Wired, Discover, Popular Science, Outside, GQ, and National Geographic. He writes “The Playing Field,” a blog about the science of sport and culture for PsychologyToday.com.

Jason Hartman discusses the two California city bankruptcies that occurred in just one week. Both Stockton, California and Mammoth Lakes are seeking bankruptcy protection. Jason has been predicting municipal bankruptcies for about six years now noting how big government simple does not work, more to come. Airbus is investing several hundred million dollars for a new manufacturing plant in Mobile, Alabama in hopes that the Airbus A320 can better compete with the Boeing 737 in the American market - this is good news for income property owners; however, it will take a few years to materialize.

Jason Hartman hosts an interesting interview with Professor Laurence Kotlikoff, author of The Clash of Generations: Saving Ourselves, Our Kids, Our Economy, regarding the problems with the economy and the effect that the astronomical national debt and government spending will have on generations to come. Professor Kotlikoff paints a picture of the magnitude of these issues very clearly, explaining that the fiscal gap is $211 trillion. He explains that we would have to raise every federal tax immediately and permanently by 64 percent or cut all non-interest spending by the government (Medicare, Social Security, defense spending, etc) by 40 percent. “The country is broke, totally broke,” says Professor Kotlikoff. He emphasizes that this applies to today, not 75 years down the road. Jason and Professor Kotlikoff also discuss why the 2007 quadrupled money base through money printing hasn’t hit the streets yet in the form of hyperinflation. Essentially, banks are being bribed to hold money reserves by the Fed.In simplistic terms, the Federal Reserve prints the money, lends it out at very low interest rates to the banks, and then the banks deposit it back with the Federal Reserve and get a higher interest rate. This makes banks more solvent over time without the public ever knowing what is going on. Professor Kotlikoff also talks about a proposal to fix the financial system, which he refers to as a fragile system, presently a “trust me” banking system where the public is unaware of what the banks are doing with their money.

Jason Hartman talks with one of the Seattle based lenders in his network about nationwide mortgage financing. You'll gain insights from Steve's 25 years in the mortgage business and you will learns some important distinctions between mortgage brokers, mortgage bankers and commercial banks. As a mortgage banker with several warehouse lines exceeding eight figures, Steve and Jason bring power to overcome financing challenges. A good mortgage banker can offer the greatest number of options with the power of direct funding control.

Join Jason Hartman as he and land trust specialist, Randy Hughes, talk about why and when land trusts should be used and how to use them effectively. Randy defines land trusts and explains some of the key elements of asset protection. In the eyes of the IRS, a land trust is a pass-through entity, which is not taxed. Randy discusses the mechanics and some of his favorite reasons for using land trusts for single-family home investments, including anonymity, estate planning, ease of transferability and linking trusts together with other entities. Randy explains that land trusts are regulated state by state, with no federal regulation. He stresses the importance of understanding the different types of trusts, noting the beneficial interest for a land trust is in personal property and obtaining privacy. He also touches on the important psychology behind naming a trust.Randy’s father charged the weekly groceries so that the family would have food on the table. There was no stable income for any future education much less the current needs of the family. No intellectual or financial direction was taught in his school or church. No blood relative had anything to offer other than "working for the man" at an hourly wage. Bank savings and financial security was what only the rich had. He was doomed for financial failure and unhappiness for the rest of his life. Randy knew that there MUST be a better way to live. Randy decided to break the cycle of poverty in his genes. Education came first. He began buying single family homes for rental while in college.After he graduated from college, he tried many different types of businesses, but always came back to the Single Family Home as the IDEAL investment. Since purchasing his first rental house in 1969, Randy hasn't looked back! Today, Randy has purchased over 200 houses. He has lived the life of having nothing and will not let that happen again. His primary goal now is to teach others how to break the cycle of financial mediocrity. He has written a Privacy and Asset Protection book, 6 booklets, a bi-monthly Land Trust newsletter and 6 "HOW TO" real estate courses to help new and seasoned investors to be successful at investing in Single Family Houses for profit. Randy’s newest home study course on Privacy and Asset Protection teaches students how to be more private in their personal lives and to protect their investments from the most dangerous terrorist of the 21st century--the contingency fee lawyer.

Countries around the globe are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, with our own country no exception. Jason Hartman interviews Dr. Kirk Elliot, Ph.D., investment adviser with ICA, on monetary and fiscal policy and the irresponsibility of governments around the world.Using Greece as an example, Dr. Elliott states that when governments run out of money, they start doing crazy things. The one fundamental issue in Greece is public debt, over which they lost their autonomy and are now under the rules of the EU. Italy, Iceland, Portugal, France and others are on the verge of bankruptcy and due to that, the EU has been unable to bail out Greece.Across the pond in the U.S., we have lost our credit rating and are losing the reserve currency status with a lack of interest in our Treasury bills and notes. The definition of inflation is an increase in the money supply, and price increases are a symptom of inflation. As more money is printed, it loses value and nobody wants it, which is sending the U.S. down the same tube as other countries in economic crisis. People around the world have lost faith in the U.S. dollar and the country’s ability to repay its debt. Dr. Elliott says when interest rates go up, it will open a whole new can of worms with the bond market, which will come crashing down hard on retirees and insurance companies. But it’s not all doom and gloom. There are counter-cyclical investment strategies that people should take advantage of that are attached to physical assets, such as precious metals and real estate investments (commodities with universal need.)Kirk Elliott has been an investment adviser with ICA in Durango, Colorado since January of 2002 and has been working in the financial services industry since 1994. Dr. Elliott is passionate about educating and equipping his clients with the information they need to safeguard their hard-earned assets. Dr. Elliott earned his Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from Walden University. His dissertation is entitled, “An Empirical Identification of an Appropriate Inflation Definition and an Inflation Targeting Monetary Policy.” Dr. Elliott also earned a Master of Arts in International Studies from the University of Denver, and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Colorado.

Countries around the globe are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, with our own country no exception. Jason Hartman interviews Dr. Kirk Elliot, Ph.D., investment adviser with ICA, on monetary and fiscal policy and the irresponsibility of governments around the world.Using Greece as an example, Dr. Elliott states that when governments run out of money, they start doing crazy things. The one fundamental issue in Greece is public debt, over which they lost their autonomy and are now under the rules of the EU. Italy, Iceland, Portugal, France and others are on the verge of bankruptcy and due to that, the EU has been unable to bail out Greece.Across the pond in the U.S., we have lost our credit rating and are losing the reserve currency status with a lack of interest in our Treasury bills and notes. The definition of inflation is an increase in the money supply, and price increases are a symptom of inflation. As more money is printed, it loses value and nobody wants it, which is sending the U.S. down the same tube as other countries in economic crisis. People around the world have lost faith in the U.S. dollar and the country’s ability to repay its debt. Dr. Elliott says when interest rates go up, it will open a whole new can of worms with the bond market, which will come crashing down hard on retirees and insurance companies. But it’s not all doom and gloom. There are counter-cyclical investment strategies that people should take advantage of that are attached to physical assets, such as precious metals and real estate investments (commodities with universal need.)Kirk Elliott has been an investment adviser with ICA in Durango, Colorado since January of 2002 and has been working in the financial services industry since 1994. Dr. Elliott is passionate about educating and equipping his clients with the information they need to safeguard their hard-earned assets. Dr. Elliott earned his Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from Walden University. His dissertation is entitled, “An Empirical Identification of an Appropriate Inflation Definition and an Inflation Targeting Monetary Policy.” Dr. Elliott also earned a Master of Arts in International Studies from the University of Denver, and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Colorado. Dr. Elliott has served as adjunct faculty for Fort Lewis College, Liberty University and Walden University in the areas of Economics, Public Policy, and International Business.

Jason Hartman interviews research scientist, Heidi Grant Halvorson regarding the science behind human motivation and success. There are many successful people in the world who are highly motivated and have concise goals, but how many actually understand why they’re successful or why they fail? The common belief is that certain people are just genetically wired to succeed or fail. Heidi states this is not entirely the case and shares the findings of scientific research on achievement. She talks about strategies that people use, principles that people can count on and apply to their own life, and states that our own intuition about what helps us succeed or causes us to fail can often be incorrect. It's not about ability or IQ. Heidi explains the psychological factors behind how people react to challenges, the beliefs and mindsets that people have as they try to reach a goal. Defining success is personal, dependent on an individual’s sense of well-being, lasting happiness and autonomy. She says it's important to be specific about goals, to break them down into manageable, specific pieces that are planned out with when and where, and taking the time to define success for ourselves.Jason and Heidi also discuss the relationship between money and happiness, expressing that there is a money point where it does make it easier to make choices and pursue the things individuals find interesting in life, plus containing a sense of accomplishment and opening the door to help others. Unhappiness comes about when a person makes and uses their money for the wrong reasons, lacking sensibility, leading to dissatisfaction. Heidi emphasizes motivation and realistic goals are important. Jason shares his own opinion on wealth, noting that, on the one hand, having more “things” can actually become a burden, but it does allow a person to help others and create experiences and memories. Heidi states that what people do with their wealth is the important factor for fulfillment and happiness.

Jason Hartman and returning guest, Dan Amerman discuss federal policies and interest rates, which hurts the savers and fixed income folks. The artificially low interest rates are not working and create higher prices through inflation.They also discuss inflation rates, in which the federal numbers are glossed over and do not match true inflation as experienced by the American citizens through food, fuel, and utilities. Manufacturers hide inflation by making products smaller. Jason and Dan then talk about rental housing and how to arbitrage the inflation. Dan explains how to turn the fed policies around to our advantage. It starts with understanding cash flow investing and setting your safety margin. When looking at cash flows, rather than being all about the price, it’s more about the interest rate when it comes to a mortgage. In the process of creating non-free-market interest rates for banks and for the federal government, the federal government has accidentally made available subsidized mortgage rates that are available if you can get the lending. It goes directly to your bottom line as the investor, resulting in much higher cash flows than you would see in a free market.

We are all confused about economic indicators and it’s critical that we understand the real figures, the direction of the economy, interest rates and their consequences, and much more. On this episode, Jason Hartman interviews Bernie Baumohl, author of Secrets of Economic Indicators, in regard to the numerous economic indicators and what is most useful. Bernie explains what a “business cycle” is and what happens during the cycle, how it comes full circle over time.Bernie gives examples of stress points in the business cycle. People make mistakes, such as buying more inventory than they need or the economy can’t handle the demand of the people. More recently, we have seen longer periods of economic growth, but at a closer look, the mistakes that caused the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression are apparent. It was a “cauldron of fraud and wrecklessness,” says Bernie. Jason and Bernie touch on the subject of the Federal Reserve and the Gold Standard, citing what has been happening in Greece as an example of the limitations of a currency that is fixed and unmovable. Bernie feels that a country in economic trouble needs to have the flexibility to lower interest rates. They also discuss market sensitivity, the index, and the source of the leading market indicators.

Jason Hartman is joined on this episode by Greg Farrell, author of Crash of the Titans: Greed, Hubris, The Fall of Merrill Lynch, and the Near Collapse of Bank of America, for a discussion of the economic crash and the resulting bailouts, as well as some of the inside dealings with some of the major banks, such as the buyouts by Bank of America. Greg explains how these banks that participated in the buyouts grossly underestimated the depth of problems in their own banks and in those they acquired. Greg relates his research on Merrill Lynch’s attempt in the 1980s to become more like Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street banks, which was to their detriment because they lacked the expertise for such business practices, and became involved in and in the middle of many of the scandals of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Like CitiGroup, they were in over their head. Jason and Greg discuss Wall Street in general and then specific financial groups regarding the recklessness and risky businesses, funds, etc, that they entertained to give the impression of higher rates of returns. As the plot unfolded, large bonuses to CEOs and high-producing brokers came into play, which encouraged an all or nothing attitude toward the company and fostered a “me” attitude versus long-term stability of the company. Greg also talks about what he calls the “Charlotte Mafia,” the clash of company cultures.Greg Farrell is a correspondent for the Financial Times. In January 2009, he broke the news that Merrill Lynch had paid out its 2008 bonuses a month ahead of schedule, in December, even though Merrill was in the process of losing $28 billion for the year, and Bank of America needed an extra $20 billion in taxpayer funds to complete its acquisition of the firm. That story sparked an investigation by New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo.

Jason Hartman interviews returning guest, Bryan Calderon, Director of Business Development with Accuplan Benefits Services, for a timely discussion on breaking out of 401k jail and putting your retirement money to better use. Bryan explains the differences between the various retirement plans, such as IRAs and 401ks, and though a 401k is a great way to save money, there are some pitfalls as well. Some of those traps have been scams, employers stealing funds from employees and the concerns over business failures. Jason reminds listeners of why it’s so important to be in control of your money. Bryan says there are less than 2 percent of plans that are self-directed. That’s a scary figure with all of the current economic uncertainty. Bryan talks about how people are concerned enough about the funds in their retirement plans that some still employed ask for early termination in order to get control of their money by putting it into a self-directed IRA or solo 401K. One of the best methods of control is investing in prudent real estate. Jason includes a recorded audio explanation of the manipulation by fund managers and how to break free from the 401k jail by becoming a real estate investor. Bryan shares options for getting out of their current plans, and he also explains how a solo 401k works for the self-employed. Unlike a sponsored plan, a solo 401k or self-directed IRA can be directed into real estate, promissory notes, trustees, etc. Bryan says that there is about $20 trillion in retirement plans across the nation, with only $4 trillion of it self-directed, and the Social Security sector funds are about $5 trillion. Bryan wraps up with some valuable advice on getting your funds freed up.

Jason Hartman discusses the return of construction jobs, new home development, the Indianapolis rental housing market, Wall Street/hedge funds getting into the landlord business, how investment and vacation home sales surged last year (National Association of Realtors NAR survey and Lawrence Yun commentary), developers selling homes in La Costa, California and a Memphis, Tennessee market profile.Is it a sign of a turnaround when the nations top homebuilders increase advertising and production? Keep an eye out for big names like - Pulte Homes (PHM), Centex (CTX), Kaufman and Broad (KB Homes) (KB), Ryland Group (RYL), Del Webb (DEL), Lennar (LEN), Richmond American Homes, Beazer Homes (BZH, BZU), Hovnanian (NasdaqGM HOVNP), Toll Brothers (NYSE - TOL), Shea Homes, D.R. Horton (DHI) and the others as the ramp up their marketing and production. When construction comes back, that is a very good sign that you, our client, is making excellent investment choices when buying below the cost of construction. Jason's key phrase/metric is "Regression to Replacement Cost(TM)" http://www.jasonhartman.com/2011-trend-predictions-in-real-estate/ and it will serve you well in these changing times.Some market profile information from Wikipedia: Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers.Memphis had a population of 662,897 at the 2010 census, making it the largest city in the state of Tennessee, the third largest in the Southeastern United States, and the 20th largest in the United States. The greater Memphis metropolitan area, including adjacent counties in Mississippi and Arkansas, had a 2010 population of 1,316,100. This makes Memphis the second largest metropolitan area in Tennessee, surpassed only by metropolitan Nashville, which has overtaken Memphis in recent years. Memphis is the youngest of Tennessee's major cities. A resident of Memphis is referred to as a Memphian, and the Memphis region is known, particularly to media outlets, as the "Mid-South".