Jason Hartman talks with Arthur Margon, partner at Rosen Consulting, about Chinese investments in the United States, the state of real estate in the USA and more in this episode. Arthur recently co-authored a report with the Asia Society on the topic of Chinese Investment in U.S. Real Estate

Arthur is in charge of Rosen Consulting's New York office and has more than 20 years experience in real estate consulting and market analysis. He has developed securitization models, restructured bank loan portfolios, and served as an independent fiduciary in a major pension fund reorganization.

Key Takeaways:

[1:20] What's happening with Chinese investors in USA real estate at the moment

[4:30] Whether the Chinese government wants to discourage investment abroad or not

[9:20] How bad the slowdown in China actually is

[12:50] How China's crackdown on corruption, and the change to a consumer economy has impacted both China and the rest of the world

[16:50] What the next 10 years look like for China as they try and do a number of things economically which no government has been able to pull off

[21:30] Why a war with China makes no sense for anyone, and what sort of thing would actually spark an incident

[24:10] Arthur's real estate forecast for the USA

Website:

www.rosenconsulting.com
Free Asia Society Report: Breaking Ground: Chinese Investment in US Real Estate

Dr. Nima Sanandaji is the president of the ECEPR. He has written more than a hundred policy papers on subjects ranging from integration and womens career progress to the changing geography of successful enterprise and the future of jobs. He is the author of the new book Debunking Utopia, Exposing the Myth of Nordic Socialism.

Key Takeaways:

[2:00] Why the left might want to rethink pointing to the Nordic countries as examples of socialism

[7:50] How much bringing the free market to Nordic countries in the late 19th century changed them, and when the shift to the welfare state began

[11:30] Comparing the Nordic people to Nordic Americans to see who has it better

[15:10] How Nordic countries achieved what they needed BEFORE they became welfare states

[20:20] Who Nima's desired audience is, and why

[23:15] Who really lost when the welfare state expanded

Website:

www.ecepr.org
www.nordicparadox.se

Jason Hartman talks with Mark Anthony Hammond, host of the Make America Great Again podcast, before the election, about the sensation that is Donald Trump and why he is so popular among the voters. Mark's podcast (since ended due to unforseen circumstances) was the only podcast dedicated to the idea of "Make America Great Again".

Key Takeaways:

[2:10] The explosive growth of the #MAGA podcast

[7:20] How feminism has been such a bad deal for women

[11:55] Why globalism is a disease

[16:10] How Obama has given domestic terrorists legitimacy

[20:15] How Democrats treat minorities worse than dogs, and how they're able to fool them

[25:20] How Bernie and Trump supporters are similar

Website:

MAGA Podcast on iTunes

Thomas A. Schatz is president of Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) and its lobbying affiliate, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW).

Mr. Schatz is a nationally-recognized spokesperson on government waste and has been interviewed on hundreds of radio talk shows from coast to coast.  He is a regularly featured guest on national television news programs and local news broadcasts.  His appearances include ABC’s “Good Morning America,” CBS’s “60 Minutes,” FOX News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” NBC’s “Nightly News,” and PBS’s “The News Hour.”  He was a regularly featured guest on the "Pork Watch" segment of CNBC’s "Squawk Box."  His editorials on fiscal policy have appeared in publications nationwide, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Schatz has testified numerous times on government waste issues before committees of the United States Senate and House of Representatives, as well as before state and local legislative and regulatory bodies.

During his 30 years with CAGW, Mr. Schatz has helped make CAGW a “leading government watchdog on fiscally conservative issues, like taxes and earmarks,” according to National Journal. He has been named one of the “top lobbyists” in Washington for the past six years by The Hill. The newspaper also cited CAGW for its leading role in successfully pushing for the congressional earmark moratorium, which was identified as one of the “top 10 lobbying victories” of 2010.

Prior to joining CAGW in 1986, Mr. Schatz spent six years as legislative director for Congressman Hamilton Fish Jr. and two years practicing law and lobbying.

Key Takeaways:

[1:37] This years pork report

[4:00] What Congress has done with spending bills that is creating less transparency and less trust in the system

[8:02] The difference that having a business person in the White House rather than a lawyer/politician might make

[11:55] If people are actually paying attention to local politics

Website Mentioned:

www.cagw.org

Chuck Dixon is a well-known, freelance graphic novel writer who has worked on the Batman series for 11 years for DC, adapted the Hobbit to a comic and adapted the new book Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich with hopes of disseminating the information to an entirely new audience. Jason and Chuck talk politics, journalism or the lack of it and conspiracy theories.

Key Takeaways:

[1:19] Peter Schweizer’s Clinton Cash was adapted into a comic book by Chuck Dixon so the information could reach a wider audience.

[3:01] The Clintons have patterns of behavior which do not bode well for democracy.

[5:26] No one will come forward to rat on the Clintons because they reward loyalty.

[7:27] The Clinton’s relationship with Vladimir Putin allowed Russia to have holdings in uranium mining in the US.

[14:51] Chuck has always wanted to be in comics and spent 11 years doing Batman books for DC Comics.

[19:31] Chuck was required to prove that the characters in his comic book actually represented real things said by the Clintons.

[23:07] Real journalism in non-existent in the US today.

[28:29] Contact information for Chuck Dixon.

Mentioned in This Episode:

Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich

Chuck Dixon on Facebook

Christian Stadler is a Professor of Strategic Management at the Warwick School of Business, strategy contributor to Forbes magazine and is author of the book Enduring Success: What We Can Learn from the History of Outstanding Corporations. He offers his thoughts and insights about the perception vs. reality of Brexit, immigration and Jason’s second favorite subject, the self-driving car.

Key Takeaways:

[2:12] Economists agree that Brexit is not a good economic idea, here’s why.

[6:04] It could also be more difficult more difficult to battle terrorism with open borders.

[15:29] Current political positions are considerably right compared to the former government.

[16:58] Immigration is still considered a good thing for the country who accepts the immigrants.

[27:53] Poor immigrants can understand markets and create products that others don’t.

[24:06] Talking points of the possible benefits of the self-driving car.

[29:21] Contact information for Christian Stadler.

Mentioned in This Episode:

http://www.christianstadler.org

Dr. Thomas DiLorenzo is a Professor of Economics at Loyola University Maryland Sellinger School of Business, a Senior Fellow at Mises Institute, a columnist for Lew Rockwell  and author of the new book, The Problem with Socialism. He joins Jason to discuss the problems Socialism creates for the poor and shares examples of how Socialism has failed other countries around the globe.

Key Takeaways:

[1:55] What is the problem with Socialism?

[5:58] Breaking down the scheme of demonizing a class and the belief that taxing the rich will save an economy.

[10:28] The truth about Sweden is when they moved towards Socialism there were no new jobs created for 55 years.

[12:42] Examples of how welfare programs harm the poor by creating a vicious cycle of dependency.

[15:43] How does Socialism cause pollution?

[19:07] Raising the minimum wage was designed to support higher wage union workers.

[23:40] Big corporations have always been behind creating regulations as a way to create monopoly power.

Website Mentioned:

The Problem with Socialism
www.lewrockwell.com

Jack Cashill  is an independent writer and producer and, on a contractual basis, the Executive Editor of Ingram’s Magazine.

In addition to his work with Ingram’s, Jack has written for Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Weekly Standard, AmericanThinker.com, and regularly for WorldNetDaily.

Within the last decade Jack has written seven books of non-fiction — First Strike, Ron Brown’s Body, Hoodwinked, Sucker Punch,What's the Matter with California, and Deconstructing Obama. Three of his books have cracked Amazon’s top ten list. Jack has produced a score of documentaries for regional PBS and national cable channels, including the Emmy Award-winning, The Royal Years.

Jack has a Ph.D. from Purdue University in American studies, has taught media and literature at Purdue and at Kansas City area universities, and served as a Fulbright professor in France

Key Takeaways:

[2:38] Jack's thoughts on the Brexit

[4:15] Who the base of the left are these days

[7:19] Where the breakthrough came in terms of creating a culture that would create a long term, successful economy

[9:40] Where the contempt for our culture is derived

[13:05] How greed pervaded all layers of our culture in the 2008 housing crisis, not just the lenders like the media portrayed

[16:33] How the Jewish code and the usury ban led to a helpful (but not exactly healthy) relationship between the two

[19:30] Whether the bible conflicts when it comes to credit

[21:50] What we need to make capitalism succeed

[23:31] Why we need to question the root cause of things, not just address the symptoms, or else we end up hurting the people we're trying to help

[26:16] What actually happened with TWA 800

Website Mentioned:

www.cashill.com

Andrea Tantaros worked as a spokesperson for Massachusetts Governor William Weld, then-Congressman Pat Toomey and former National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Thomas Reynolds. She started Andrea Tantaros Media, which provided crisis management and media strategy consulting to Fortune 500 companies and political campaigns.

Tantaros joined Fox News Channel in April 2010 as a political contributor. In 2011, she was named one of the co-hosts of The Five. After only several months airing, The Five consistently beat its competitors on MSNBC and CNN combined and, by 2013, it was the second-most-watched program in all of cable news. Her popularity led to her being named one of the hosts of Outnumbered in 2014.

Andrea is now author of the book Tied Up in Knots: How Getting What We Wanted Made Women Miserable, and talked with Jason about the book and the state of affairs between men and women today.

Key Takeaways:

[1:16] If feminism backfired

[4:09] How an increase in women's responsibilities and work life have been somewhat offset by health issues

[5:39] The hook up culture and the death of romance

[7:32] Andrea believes there are liberals out there who are calling for a return to tradition

[11:18] How the idea of a "sisterhood" among all women is a sham

[14:01] If "50 Shades of Gray" set feminism back any

[18:26] Some feminist beliefs have hurt men who want to help and protect women

Websites Mentioned:

Tied Up in Knots: How Getting What We Wanted Made Women Miserable

Chris Versace is the co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Tematica Research and the editor of Tematica Investing, a subscription newsletter that utilizes a thematic approach to investing that that capitalizes on my near 20 years in the investment industry.

He is also the co-author of Cocktail Investing: Distilling Everyday Noise into Clear Investment Signals for Better Returns.

Key Takeaways:

[2:05] Whether recent elections are to be considered a mandate against Obama

[5:30] One of Chris' favorite investment themes today

[9:38] Where inflation is going to hit first

[12:26] How robotics is changing everything

[13:26] The stock sector Chris is really excited about

Websites Mentioned:

www.chrisversace.com

Roger Stone is an alternative historian who was one the legendary American Republican political consultant who has played a key role in the election of Republican presidents from Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan to George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. Stone also served as an assistant to Senator Bob Dole. Stone is the author of "The Man Who Killed Kennedy - the Case Against LBJ". Stone is also the author of Nixon's Secrets, a broader look at the rise and fall and rise and fall and final comeback of Richard Milhouse Nixon.

Key Takeaways:

[2:21] Comparing Richard Nixon with Barack Obama

[5:42] The importance of Nixon's China trip with the closing of the gold window

[8:12] Making the case that Lyndon Johnson was the linchpin of the JFK assassination

[11:44] LBJ and the Warren Commission

[12:13] Lee Harvey Oswald's role in the JFK assassination

[15:17] The possibility of Hillary's run for president in 2016

[18:01] The problem that continues to remain for America, the weakness of the dollar

[19:34] How the Republicans could use a weaker economy for a resurgence

Website Mentioned:

www.stonezone.com

Avik Roy is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He is also the opinion editor at Forbes, and has advised Florida Sen. Marco Rubio on policy. In 2015, Roy was a senior advisor to former Texas governor Rick Perry; in 2012, he served as a health care policy advisor to Mitt Romney. He is the founder of Roy Healthcare Research, an investment research firm, and previously was an analyst and portfolio manager at Bain Capital and J.P. Morgan. Roy is the principal author of The Apothecary (the Forbes blog on health care policy and entitlement reform), as well as author of Transcending Obamacare: A Patient-Centered Plan for Near-Universal Coverage and Permanent Fiscal Solvency (2014) and How Medicaid Fails the Poor (2013). His research interests include the Affordable Care Act, universal coverage, entitlement reform, international health systems, veterans’ health care, and FDA policy.

Key Takeaways:

[1:34] Avik's "near universal" healthcare idea

[3:52] How the government could spend less money than we spend today, yet cover more people with better coverage

[6:47] How much of an impact breaking up regional medical clinic monopolies could have on healthcare costs

[8:56] Why it matters that we don't know how much our insurance is paying for medical care

[10:58] How Medicaid is failing

[13:26] Why we have to think of healthcare like any other market, and not some unique part of society

[15:14] The shocking revelation that for as much as the government spends on Medicaid, it might not actually be helping people

[17:28] The best way to understand Donald Trump

[20:20] How closing the border would lead to rising wages

Websites Mentioned:

www.twitter.com/avik
www.forbes.com/opinion
www.facebook.com/forbesaroy

Paul Vigna is a markets reporter for The Wall Street Journal, covering equities and the economy. He writes for the MoneyBeat blog and hosts a daily news show of the same name.

Michael J. Casey writes for The Wall Street Journal, covering global finance in his “Horizons” column. He is a frequent contributor to the Journal’s MoneyBeat blog and co-authors the daily “BitBeat” with Paul Vigna. He is the host of the book-themed video series “WSJ Afterword” and a frequent guest on and host of “The News Hub” and “MoneyBeat.”

Paul and Michael are co-authors of the new book "The Age of Cryptocurrency".

Key Takeaways:

[1:12] How Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are challenging the world order

[3:14] How money not backed by a government is possible

[5:17] Anyone can make a cryptocurrency, including governments

[6:58] How you can set up your own cryptocurrency

[9:30] The issue of concentration of ownership in Bitcoin and how it can be made more democratic

[12:16] If governments will use regulation to end cryptocurrency but how it would be pretty hard to do

[15:52] Decentralized exchanges and the Block Chain can be used for things such as copyrights, and how the Block Chain makes your claim irrefutable, and how you can do it

[18:58] Don't think of this as a currency, but rather an exchange of information

[22:16] What, if anything, the average person should be doing with cryptocurrency right now

[22:58] Different potential ways to invest in cryptocurrencies

Websites Mentioned:

www.theageofcryptocurrency.com
www.wsj.com

Mary Spio is Chief Visionary & Product Architect at CEEK VR. She started her career as a Deep Space Engineer working with companies such as Boeing Digital Cinema, Intelsat and Aerospace Corp developing technologies that have changed media and communications. Through her ventures she's provided technical guidance and content solutions for over 200 radio stations, Microsoft XBOX, Tribune News Company, Coca Cola, Toyota and much more.

Every once in a while something comes along with the potential to shift the way we do things, as a Digital Cinema pioneer at Boeing, she had the rare opportunity to help create the technology that changed the entire movie distribution paradigm working with Lucas Films, 20th Century Fox and other major studios. From there she pioneered an online video distribution platform that became the defacto standard for many media companies and brands to distribute their content digitally. And now…here she is again building what she believes will be the standard for mixed reality content creation and distribution CEEK.

Mary talks with Jason about where virtual reality is now, where it's going and what it all means for the individual.

Key Takeaways:

[2:28] How quickly technology in the virtual reality world is changing

[4:57] The best VR technology on the market today

[6:31] The difference between virtual and augmented reality

[9:34] Mary describes a virtual reality experience

[12:17] How CEEK has had to meld their new technology with existing file types

[15:35] The consumer readiness of VR technology and how phones might be the first things targeted

[18:05] How Mary got into the VR world

[20:56] The entry cost for VR technology

Website:
www.ceek.com

JC Watts is a former Congressman from Oklahoma, President of Feed the Children, co-chair of the Coalition for AIDS Relief in Africa, founder and Chairman of JC Watts Companies and Watts Consulting Group. He's also the author of the new book Dig Deep: 7 Truths for Finding the Strength Within.

In Dig Deep, J.C. Watts offers seven powerful maxims that have kept him grounded throughout his roller-coaster career from star college quarterback to U.S. Congressman. The first black Republican ever elected to a leadership position in Congress, Watts resisted the rat-race of Washington and eventually declined re-election. His seven simple principles are a blueprint for living a fulfilling and meaningful life without falling to the temptations of reckless ambition or indulgence. Dig Deep is a powerful, simple guide that will help readers find the courage and faith to live the best life possible.

Key Takeaways:

[6:13] The need for more tax payers, and how you create that

[10:43] Why adversity can be good for us, as long as we're willing to change

[14:05] Why "we've always done it this way" isn't good enough anymore

[17:00] JC's work with Feed the Children

[19:45] How forgiving can set you free

[23:18] An unfortunate series of events leading up to JC's first elected office that taught him an important lesson in forgiveness

Websites Mentioned:

www.wattsconsultinggroup.com
Dig Deep: 7 Truths to Finding the Strength Within

Henry Olsen is an elections analyst and political essayist who studies conservative politics, both here and abroad. He looks at election returns and poll data to understand why people vote the way they do and how conservative politicians and thinkers can best advance their ideas in the climate they face. Olsen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Prior to that, he was a vice president at the American Enterprise Institute, a vice president at the Manhattan Institute, and president of the Commonwealth Foundation. He has also been a lawyer at the firm currently known as Dechert, a clerk for the Honorable Judge Danny J. Boggs on the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a staffer for the California Assembly Republican Caucus, and an associate at the political consulting firm of Hoffenblum-Mollrich. Olsen graduated with a B.A. in political science from Claremont McKenna College, and received his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. His new book is called The Four Faces of the Republican Party.

Mr. Olsen has worked in senior executive positions at many center-right think tanks. He most recently served from 2006 to 2013 as Vice President and Director, National Research Initiative, at the American Enterprise Institute. He previously worked as Vice President of Programs at the Manhattan Institute and President of the Commonwealth Foundation.

Key Takeaways:

[4:22] Why more funding hasn't solved our educational systems woes

[9:05] The odd discrepancy of how technology hasn't driven down the cost of college education

[14:32] Examining the Bernie Sanders tax plan

[19:29] The Republican candidates tax plans

[23:39] Why moving to a European style society might hurt the people who are down right now but want to get back on their feet

[25:18] Trump's laughable tax plan

Websites Mentioned:

www.henryolsenpolitics.com

www.twitter.com/henryolseneppc

The Four Faces of the Republican Party

Jeffrey Lord, a former Reagan White House political director, is a columnist and contributing editor for The American Spectator. He is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His work has been published around the country, including The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Weekly Standard, National Review Online, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Harrisburg Patriot-News.

He is also the author of the new book "What America Needs: The Case for Trump". Jason and Jeffrey recently talked about if a Trump presidency was actually possible, and, if it was, what it might actually look like.

Key Takeaways:

[1:48] How the media has portrayed Trump and the misportrayals of Trump supporters

[4:11] The dangers of political correctness

[7:46] The condescension of people toward Trump supporters and how Trump and Ronald Reagan have something in common

[9:23] The history of liberal smear tactics

[12:07] How a conservative like Jeffrey ended up a CNN contributor

[13:27] What the average Trump supporter ACTUALLY looks like

[14:54] What draws people to Trump

[15:34] Why the details don't matter

[20:35] The KKK relationship with the Democrats

[21:52] Contrasting what Trump is suggesting doing with the Muslim nationalization process to what FDR did following Pearl Harbor to Japanese, Germans and Italians

[24:25] How Trump reminds Jeffrey of a certain Eddie Murphy character

[27:07] How Trump is using his media savvy to run his campaign on the cheap

[30:51] What a Trump presidentcy might look like

[33:10] The economy that comes from having a tough guy in the Oval Office

Websites Mentioned

What America Needs, The Case For Trump on Amazon

Richard C. Wilson is CEO of The Miami Family Office, a $500M AUM single family office. Richard is also the founder of Wilson Holding Company which employs over 30 professionals and produces over $10M a year in revenue through various operating businesses which include Billionaire Family Office and The Family Club, the largest membership-based family office association (FamilyOffices.com), along with holdings in the training, single family office management (SingleFamilyOffices.com), investment conference, search, data research, physical bullion, private equity (PrivatEquity.com), food, and energy industries.

Richard has spoken at over 150 conferences in 17 countries and has the #1 bestselling book in the family office industry, The Single Family Office: Creating, Operating, and Managing the Investments of a Single Family Office.  Richard has his undergraduate degree from Oregon State University, his M.B.A. from University of Portland, and has studied master’s level psychology through Harvard’s ALM program while previously residing in Boston.

Key Takeaways:

[2:20] Why you should care about what people worth $20+ million are doing with their money

[4:13] Some important terminology for dealing with family offices

[6:35] Looking back at some of the original family offices and the changes that have taken place since then

[10:49] Why there's a need for family offices

[14:11] How the middle class investor can take the framework of a family office and use it to fit their situation

[16:26] A key strategy you can take from family offices of the ultra-wealthy

[19:24] What sorts of holdings the family offices have

[22:56] Why the US is the haven for the ultra-wealthy

[26:26] Family offices, surprisingly, sometimes even go after distressed markets

[27:38] How you can find a family office to partner with in your deals

Websites Mentioned:

www.familyoffices.com

Chris Dancy is touted as “the Most Connected Man on Earth,” and the world is watching those connections carefully. For 25 years, Dancy has served in leadership within the technology and healthcare industries, specializing in the intersection of the two.

Chris entered the public dialog concerning digital health as the media started to focus on wearable technology. He earned his moniker by utilizing up to 700 sensors, devices, applications, and services to track, analyze, and optimize his life--from his calorie intake to his spiritual well-being. This quantification enables him to see the connections of otherwise invisible data, resulting in dramatic upgrades to his health, productivity, and quality of life.

A noted keynote speaker and executive workshop retreat facilitator, Chris guides organizations and audiences on a journey--a disruptive, breathtaking journey--into the future of computing, when behavior becomes the ultimate interface.

Key Takeaways:

[3:27] Every major corporation is surveilling you, they just have a different name for it to make it sound better

4:27] Chris tells Jason how he went about starting to collect data on himself and how he decided what to do with it

[7:13] How Chris' background as a Database Analyst led him to be able to collect all his data on himself

[9:07] The one piece of equipment that's already doing tracking for you, whether you know it or not

[10:29] How categorizing your purchases by feeling rather than type can change the way you view your habits

[11:35] Wanting to collect data is good, but data isn't very high on the food chain of your life

[12:28] The internet is turning into the INNERnet

[14:06] What could cause the death of apps

[16:42] As technology improves, we're heading towards devices that can track anything we want, from blood oxygen to reading blood with spectral imaging

[18:29] How marketing could be changed as companies are able to get more and more data about our lives and the one place on Earth that's ALREADY doing this

[20:02] The new world of data collection and surveillance is new and, admittedly, scary

[21:00] Whether we should be optimistic or pessimistic about the direction we're headed with technology and surveillance

[23:11] What is singularity and how far off it might be

[24:45] The people who are going to be the most important as we move into quantum computing

Websites Mentioned:

www.chrisdancy.com
www.twitter.com/chrisdancy

Tweetables:

[6:32] "there's this interesting relationship about our lives when you experience everything through a connected interface, that you realize there's filtered information that you can benefit from"

[8:03] "We're entering an age very rapidly, in the next 4 years (and I'd say we're already, it's done), where you can't afford to live without the internet"

[18:08] "Disney's probably the most surveilled, convenient, safe space on Earth"

[19:57] "People don't have the ability to not weaponize facts, and we live in a world full of facts and data"

John G. Taft is CEO of RBC Wealth Management in the U.S. Mr. Taft is responsible for RBC's wealth management growth strategy in the U.S. which consists of helping clients achieve their financial objectives through a full- service wealth management offering (investment management, retirement planning, cash management, credit and lending, insurance trust, estate planning and other solutions); and enhancing the productivity of financial advisors and relationship managers in RBC's Private Client Group, Correspondent Services, Advisor Services and U.S.-based international businesses.

Mr. Taft has worked in financial services since 1981. He has served as Chairman-Elect and Chairman of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), the leading securities industry trade group representing securities firms, banks and asset managers in the United States. He is an industry thought leader who frequently speaks at government and industry events and who is widely quoted in the media. He is also executive sponsor of the firm's PRIDE group, representing the interests of LGBT employees and clients.

He is the author of “A Force for Good: How Enlightened Finance Can Restore Faith in Capitalism,” for which Mr. Taft gathered more than 20 industry leaders to share their fresh perspectives on creating solutions for positive social outcomes and a sustainable financial future. He is also the author of "Stewardship: Lessons Learned from the Lost Culture of Wall Street," which explores the importance of stewardship as a core principle.

Jason talks with John about the state of the financial services industry today, what it COULD be, and how we can get it there again.


Key Takeaways:

[4:10] Why Wall Street falls into the cycle of corruption at least once every generation

[5:22] If anyone actually goes to work on Wall Street to help people

[6:39] John gives a surprise example of a country whose financial sector is doing what we want ours to do, but with a lot fewer financial institutions

[7:33] Why financial services institutions actually exist (hint: it's not to make money for the share holders)

[8:56] Why the original reasoning for Wall Street is so important, and where you can look today to prove that it's still true

[10:22] The important fact about capitalism that gets lost in the income inequality discussion

[12:37] Real markets vs the expectations market and the importance of keeping them separate

[15:36] Trying to find a solution to the reoccurring financial services industry problems, whether that be more regulation, less regulation, or something out of left field

[18:11] The "Future of Finance" initiative being done by the Charter Financial Analysts to try and bring morality back into the financial services industry

[19:03] Why the term "financial innovation" doesn't have to make you cringe and shield your wallet

[20:48] RBC Wealth Management's views on their belief that we're in a long term secular bull market for equities

Websites Mentioned:

www.cfainstitute.org
Robert Shiller's book - Finance and the Good Society
www.rbcwealthmanagement.com

Cheryl Bachelder is the author of the new book "Dare to serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others". Cheryl has served as CEO of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc. since 2007. Ms. Bachelder has led a remarkable turnaround of the company’s financial results with a compelling strategic roadmap for growth and an inspiring purpose and set of principles. The results – industry leading performance for the franchise owners and the shareholders. Ms. Bachelder has more than 35 years of experience in brand building, operations and public-company management at companies like Yum Brands, Domino’s Pizza, RJR Nabisco, The Gillette Company and The Procter & Gamble Company.

At the time of Ms. Bachelder’s 2007 appointment to CEO, Popeyes’ guest visits had been declining for years, restaurant sales and profit trends were negative. The company stock price had dropped from $34 in 2002 to $13. The brand was stagnant, and relations between the company and its franchise owners were strained. Ms. Bachelder and her team created a workplace where people were treated with respect and dignity yet challenged to perform at the highest level. Silos and self were set aside in favor of collaboration and team play. And the results were measured with rigor and discipline.

By 2014, average restaurant sales were up 25 percent, and profits were up 40 percent. Popeyes’ market share had grown from 14 percent to 21 percent, and the stock price was over $40. In 2012, Ms. Bachelder was recognized as Leader of the Year by the Women’s Foodservice Forum and received the highest industry award, the Silver Plate, for the quick service restaurant sector, presented by the International Food Manufacturer’s Association. She was also recognized as a 2012 Nation’s Restaurant News’ Golden Chain Award recipient.

Key Takeaways:

[4:23] Why the mom and pop restaurants seem to be fading away and being replaced by franchises

[6:52] How restaurants are starting to implement analytics and technology to get ahead in the marketplace

[10:19] How Popeye's is starting to forecast demand of their customers

[12:20] What a $15 minimum wage would mean to companies like Popeye's

[17:18] How having Louisiana roots has led to Popeye's differentiate from the competitors

Websites Mentioned:

www.cherylbachelder.com
www.daretoserveleaders.com

Chris Martenson, PhD (Duke), MBA (Cornell) is an economic researcher and futurist specializing in energy and resource depletion, and co-founder of PeakProsperity.com (along with Adam Taggart). He is also author of the book "Prosper!: How To Prepare for the Future and Create a World Worth Inheriting" As one of the early econobloggers who forecasted the housing market collapse and stock market correction years in advance, Chris rose to prominence with the launch of his seminal video seminar: The Crash Course which has also been published in book form (Wiley, March 2011). It's a popular and extremely well-regarded distillation of the interconnected forces in the Economy, Energy and the Environment (the "Three Es" as Chris calls them) that are shaping the future, one that will be defined by increasing challenges to growth as we have known it.

Key Takeaways:

[4:22] How Brazil's debt and dropping commodity prices are destroying the nation

[8:10] Japan's population peak and what will become of their nation once all the youth leave

[12:21] What would actually happen to our economy if we actually normalized interest rates

[19:26] How exposed banks might be because of their use of derivatives

[24:57] Unsustainable trends that are going to have to stop, but when will the ball drop?

[30:52] Why Chris has been out of the market for a few years and when he'll consider getting back in

[34:00] The coming robotic revolution and how it will reshape our society

[37:12] What's going to happen by 2030 that should really make us consider what we're investing in as a country

[40:35] Why emotional capital is going to be so important moving forward

Website Mentioned:

www.peakprosperity.com

Eric is from Detroit, Michigan.  He was politically interested from an early age, and in the late 1960s, he began to follow political developments through magazines and the Wall Street Journal. In 1976, he attended a speech in Detroit by economist Milton Friedman. It happened to be the day that Friedman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics.

From late 1973 to early 1976, Eric worked running drill presses at Detroit Broach and Machine where he was a member of the United Steelworkers of America, Local 7489. Eric’s direct political activities began in 1976 with a contribution to the Libertarian Party presidential campaign of Roger MacBride. Eric read about the sweeping regulations of campaign activities based on the 1974 Federal Election Campaign Act amendments, which were sold as a response to Watergate.  Their actual intent, and the result, was to handicap challengers and therefore entrench incumbents.  Many aspects of the law were ruled unconstitutional in the 1976 Buckley v. Valeo decision, but unfortunately the Supreme Court decided to rewrite the law rather than reject it.

Eric is currently a part of The Wisconsin Club for Growth and Citizens for Self Governance.

Key Takeaways:

[4:07] How governmental resources are being used to shut down political speech

[9:13] The impact of Citizens United and the truth behind it

[14:06] How we can stop the entrenched politicians and impose term limits

[20:31] The monologue vs dialogue media

Websites Mentioned:

www.selfgovern.com