2243: The Great Power Shift: How Policy Shapes Our Economic Future | Promoting Freedom and Decentralization with Russell Gray

This show is produced by the Hartman Media Company. For more information and links to all.

Our great podcasts, visit hartmanmedia.com.

Hey, buddy.

Just wanted to say thanks again for the awesome job you did Friday morning. That was great. Just started out our day perfectly and put a cap on our event. I just thought it was awesome, man. You did a great job. But even more than that, just appreciate your spirit in the room, man. Seem like you're just more alive and just more enthusiastic than ever about things you're working on and things the family's doing. So I just want you to. I appreciate you, man. Travel safe.

Welcome to the Creating wealth show with Jason Hartman. You're about to learn a new slant on investing some exciting techniques and fresh new approaches to the world's most historically proven asset class that will enable you to create more wealth and freedom than you ever thought possible. Jason is a genuine, self made multimillionaire who's actually been there and done it. He's a successful investor, lender, developer and entrepreneur who owned properties in 11 states, had hundreds of tenants, and been involved in thousands of real estate transactions. This program will help you follow in Jason's footsteps on the road to your Financial Independence Day. You really can do it. And now, here's your host, Jason Hartman, with the complete solution for real estate investors.

Greetings from Zagreb, Croatia, and welcome to episode 2243, I am in the Airport. If you're watching on video, that's probably pretty obvious to you. And I have a question for you before we dive into today's content. Why is it that airports are always so modern? I mean, look at this thing behind me, right? It looks like a version of Buckminster Fuller's Geodesic dome, right? It's just totally, totally modern. I mean, why doesn't somebody do an airport in country? French or shabby chic or rococo or just typical contemporary? Have you ever wondered that? I mean, why is it always super modern? I think we have to convey the idea that, you know, people are getting on airplanes. That's some kind of a modern idea, right? And that they're safe and we're in the future. I mean, no other buildings look like airports. And airports around the world all have the same modern feel to them. I mean, pretty much all of them. Any airport built within the last, you know, 30 years has got a modern look to it, right? I mean, look at how modern this is. And by the way, I just got a comment, you know, if you haven't traveled much around the world, as you all know, I'M sure I've traveled extensively, 97 countries. I'm on my way somewhere now. I'll tell you next time on the next Episode where I'm going, but we'll let that be a mystery. If, if you have a guess or you think, you know, maybe comment below. If you're watching this on a video platform and tell me where you think I'm going, I'll give you a hint. This flight's going to be a little over five hours and it will be much warmer than where I am now. How's that? There's your hints. Anyway, if you haven't traveled much, I really got to tell you, you know, a lot of especially Americans or, you know, Westerners living in prosperous Western countries. But if you have this idea, you know, that your country, or maybe if it's not your country, these other countries that you haven't been to, these Western countries, these modern Western prosperous countries, right? Or modern Asian prosperous countries are so modern. And all these other countries, like for example, Croatia, where I am now, are, you know, way behind. Right. You know that when you have a per capita GDP of maybe $15,000 a year and an income of about 15,000 a year, I've noticed that those things both track fairly closely per capita GDP and income. It's not exact, but you know, America's like quadruple this, right? So you might think, well, these places are behind, right? They're primitive, they're not as nice. And I just got to tell you, that would be an incorrect perception. I just had some food here in the airport and the fast food place I went to had high quality, quick food. I took some video of the food. The place, it was so clean. The staff was so sophisticated and nice. It was inexpensive. This airport is so clean you could eat off the floor. I mean, it's just unbelievable how nice the Zagreb, Croatia airport is. So really, a lot of us have these misconceptions and I've shared them. I felt that way myself at times. And I just want you to throw those misconceptions out because they really are incorrect perceptions if you have them. Okay, so a couple of things. Of course, the Trump transition is taking place and all over the world people are reacting. You know, Biden has been very low key since the election. Of course he pardoned his son, Hunter, the drug addict criminal scumbag, and he promised he wouldn't pardon Hunter, but yet he broke that promise and pardoned him. But Biden did that probably more for himself than than Hunter. And there's a lot of reasons why. Please be sure you're following me on Instagram and other social media where I'm posting a lot about this stuff. We don't have time to talk about it on the show. And thank you to the jerk that gave me the one star review the other day saying I talk too much about politics. Let me tell you something. If you think politics and personal finance and your investments are somehow detached from each other, that's just a crazy, crazy thought that's talking crazy talk because they are so inextricably intertwined. They're inseparable. Okay? We're seeing now the Trump effect just migrate around the planet. And he's not even in office. And things are changing so quickly and so significantly. The stock market defying gravity. Record highs in stocks. Crypto. Of course housing market's gonna follow that. Don't worry about it, folks. It's coming. Okay. A few more things have to happen with housing. It's been kind of just quiet. You know, the housing market's been kind of frozen for a while, but prices are still increasing. Okay. Because there's definitely a shortage out there. So we'll see how that all goes. But here's the thing about this define gravity concept, and we had a great Empowered Investor Pro meeting last night. We meet once a month on Zoom. If you're not a Pro member, join our Pro group, because really, you'd be crazy not to. It's so cheap and you get so much value out of it. Every. Every member that's in it just constantly tells me how much value they get out of that group and how valuable those monthly Zoom meetings are in the community and all the discounts and the other stuff. We've got another conference coming up, by the way. Empowered Investor Live is slated for April, early April. So save the dates. We'll get back to you with exact dates and a landing page where you can get your tickets and register for that. But that's in Southern California. We're going back to one of our favorite venues that we've hosted many, many events at over the years. And we will be there. But Pro members get huge discounts on the events, basically that many times. Just pay for the Pro membership or even more. So it's basically free. So become a Pro member for sure. But anyway, you know, there's this thought, and I talked about it last night on our Empowered Investor Pro Zoom meeting. Well, it was last night to me, because in Croatia was like 10pm And I said, you know, there's this idea, this faulty idea that we as humans have, that things have to go back to the way they were. And that is simply not true. Now look, I'm no expert in the stock market. You know that. I'm a housing expert. But when you look at the stock market and you look at the way it has been defying gravity for a very long time, you know, people keep thinking, well, I'm just going to wait it out. I'm just going to sit tight. I'm going to keep my powder dry. I'm going to be in cash. And the market just keeps setting new records, right? It just keeps defying gravity. Those price to earning ratios that we used to have in the old days, they just don't look like they're coming back. And the same is true with housing. Housing does not have to become more affordable like it was during the COVID era or before the COVID era. It just doesn't have to. There's no rule that that has to. Show me data that says that has to be true. I know as humans we think that's true. It's just kind of innate in our being that we think because something was one way once, it has to revert to that way again. And that is simply a faulty perception. So just abandon that idea. If you're holding that idea, abandon it because it is simply not true. It does not account for supply and demand. It does not account for fiscal and monetary policy factors. It doesn't account for a whole bunch of things. There's nothing that says things have to revert to the way they were. There's just no data to support that. So please abandon that idea because if you don't, you are going to miss opportunities that is going to cost you a lot of money. So I want you to abandon that idea before it hurts you and before you miss out on opportunities. All right, so our guest today is going to be Russell Gray. He is a partner with me now in the collective inner circle mastermind, along with Ken McElroy and George and Robert Helms as well. So we're going to be talking about some various things and I think you'll find this interview interesting. I must warn you though, Russell does skew a little bit to the side of the doomers. Okay? So just be warned. But you know, I like to give a variety of opinions on my show. You know that. And that's why we're going to do that today. If you need help with your portfolio, though, go to jason hartman.com book a free consultation with any of our investment counselors. We're Happy to assist you in building a great real estate portfolio and also doing a portfolio makeover that can really help you optimize the assets you have for the best possible return on investment. Optimize for roi, for cash flow, for tax advantages, for ease of management, all kinds of things. Once a year you should be talking to investment counselors, even if you've been a client of mine for, you know, 15, 20 years now. Okay? Talk to your investment counselor at least once a year and have a portfolio makeover. And if you're new to the group, definitely do that right away. So just go to Jason hartman.com and you can fill out any web form and we'll be in touch with you. Also, be sure to check out Jason hartman.com AI our artificial intelligence bot that is really, really smart. Actually, I fear for my future career because the AI is very well trained on my content. So if you have questions, you can just ask it anything. I mean, ask it about how refi till you die works. Ask it about the Hartman risk evaluator. Ask it about the Hartman comparison index. Ask it about the land to improvement ratio or the LTI ratio or any of the concepts we talk about the ten Commandments, inflation induced debt destruction, whatever you want to know. Ask it about your personal strategy about self management that's there for you. It's right on the front page of Jason Hartman dot com. It's in the lower right corner. You see a little bit empowered investor superhero there. Just click on that. It opens up the chatbot. You can talk with your voice or you can type and that is there for you. Or you can just go to Jason hartman.com AI and take advantage of that. And also of course, get a meeting with one of our investment counselors so they can assist you as well. All right, enough said. Here we go. Our interview with Russell Gray.

It is my pleasure to welcome a returning guest back to the show, and that is none other than my friend Russell Gray. He is partners with me in the collective inner circle and you've heard about that over the years. It's great to have him on. We're going to talk a little bit about monetary and fiscal policy as they relate to precious metals and real estate and all that kind of good stuff. But Russell, it's good to have you. I just saw you at the Limitless conference and we hung out with RFK there. That was fun.

Yeah, that was a lot of fun and very insightful. And just a few days before he made that appearance, he had made the decision to drop out of the race, suspend his campaign, and then come out with his endorsement of Donald Trump, which was kind of a, I don't know, earthquake in the political realm. And it's really interesting to watch the way the conventional dividing lines between the parties have shifted. And one of the things that RFK talked about was how, in his view, the Republican Party has become really the party of Main street, which used to be the other way around. And so it's really fun to be alive right now. I'm old enough to have been through quite a few election cycles. I've seen a lot of things happen politically, and I don't really tend to be political because I think discussions of politics or debates about how you or I think things should be and the way we think the world ought to be. Last time I looked, nobody in power is calling me and asking me my opinion. I get to cast my vote, and that's about it. So I think the, the bigger picture is really to understand how the people who do have their hands on the levers of power think and not talk about the politics, but the policies and how those policies trickle down to Main street and then just read and react. It doesn't really matter how you feel about it. It is what. And I think there was a lot of that going on at Limitless, which I found very helpful.

It really does seem like, and I, I guess it's probably felt like this throughout history at certain times, but it really does seem like we are on the verge of just a nation where the middle class is being just completely hollowed out and eviscerated. Homelessness is skyrocketing. Crime is skyrocketing. At the time of this recording, 20,000 Haitian immigrants were dumped on a little Ohio town. And these people are scared to death, as they should be. I mean, Venezuelan gangs are taking over apartment complexes in Colorado and Chicago and other areas now. North Dallas as well. It's getting pretty scary. And I think for the first time in my lifetime, Russell, there's real political risk, whereas that was always something reserved for other countries in, you know, in Central and South America and Eastern Europe and certain Asian countries, they had political risk. But in the US you could always count on rule of law and a good infrastructure that would take care of you. But it seems like that's very intentionally being uprooted right now.

Well, I, I, you know, I think you get in trouble when you try and assign motives. I'm not saying I disagree with you. I probably would be inclined to agree with you. But as I said, it really doesn't matter. Right. If you're locked in a room with a big elephant, whether the elephant likes you, hates you, or doesn't even know you exist, if it steps on you, you're equally dead. So what matters is your ability to watch that elephant and understand what it's thinking and what it's feeling. And maybe its motives matter a little bit. But to me, I think, and we talked about this. I sat on the State of the Union panel with Chris Martinson and Kiyosaki and Kenny. And it was George on that. I don't remember, but it was a pretty cool panel. And yeah, George was on there because he talked about economic cycles. And I've lived long enough and I'm a little bit older than George.

I've.

I've realized that economic cycles really are derived from policy and policy is derived from power. And what we're really at is the end of a power cycle. And in my view, it all started. It kind of started with the, the, the Civil War, but it really took hold when the shift of power, the great reset of its Day in 1913 with the formation of the Federal Reserve, the passing of the 16th Amendment, the, the creation of the income tax, which didn't exist up to that point, the creation of the irs, which has tremendous power for an organization ostensibly just designed to collect revenue.

Yeah.

And so it started out as being something only to go after the rich, which is how these often start. And then it worked its way onto Main Street. But if you really go back in the fullness of time and look at the consequences from 1913, when the money system changed and was taken away from the government and giving to. Given to a cartel of private bankers, which a lot of people don't know. That's what happened, but that's what happened. And then from that point forward, within just five years, we found ourselves, or four years, we found ourselves in World War I. And that a lot of people would make the argument that there's some motivation for the people who finance these wars and profit from them to play a hand in encouraging them. And so a lot of money got printed and we had the Roaring twenties, which is what happens when you print a lot of money. And we had a big stock market bubble, and we all know how that ended with the Great Depression. But the next big shift happened in 33 with the Executive Order 6102 and the confiscation of money, which was at that time, gold. And Americans were no longer allowed to own gold. Own money. They had to own claims on money which were gold certificates.

Yeah, they were given Federal Reserve notes which are IOUs now they were redeemable at that time for silver. But later on that came to an end. Another part of this great reset that happened on this dollar based financial system happened in 1945 with Bretton Woods. And I know you know it well, that's when the dollar backed by gold became the world's reserve currency. Well, by the 60s we had printed so much money we were basically in danger of not being able to honor our commitments. And they passed a coinage act in 1965 and took the silver away from the people. And now we have zinc plated copper coins that aren't worth anywhere near their metal value or, or their face value is not worth anywhere near their metal value. They took the silver out. And so I take it for granted, because I grew up when that happened, that everybody remembers what real money was like. But you know, I've gotten to be older and people don't. And then right after that the ultimate like end of that era was 1971. August 15, 1971.

We'll live in infamy. That's the.

Yeah, so that, that, that was when Nixon defaulted. And so that, that triggered this inflation which has really been part of our everyday life. If you go to the St. Louis Fed and you've seen these charts, you can see how the debt, the deficits, the inflation, everything really started to unravel. And the reason I'm telling the story is because this control of the money is power. And when people control the money, they control everything. And so keeping a grip on that money system, but this money system is flawed and eventually it breaks. And I think that fast forward after the reset with Volcker of the interest rates which kicked off a 40 year bond bubble which many people that are old enough our age road is equity created by debt. Now your debt and food induced inflation induced debt destruction. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well all of that is rooted in this monetary policy. And, and, and I think when you don't understand far enough up the food chain when you read and react, you don't see things coming fast. And the reason I've become obsessed with this is it's pretty common knowledge for anybody that's been out there following me is I lost everything in 2008 and it was because I didn't understand any of this. And so it became like this obsession to me to understand how did I not see this coming? How do people not know? How did only a handful of people know? And why didn't anybody listen to that. And so now I have a. I think a better handle. That's why I go to things like Limitless. And so my obsession is Main Street. I care a lot about Main Street. I live on Main Street. I call myself a Main street capitalist. I've been, you know, kind of an entrepreneur and an independent guy since I got out of high school. And to your earlier point, you've got this big divide now because this financial system and the attempts to keep the power have rotted out the middle class. And why do I say that? Because all the manufacturing jobs had to be exported, which was a way for us to reduce our labor costs, and we replaced it with credit. Now we are literally importing cheap labor. And the last jobs report I'm sure you saw, it showed 1.2 million Native American jobs were lost and 685,000 immigrant jobs were gained. And so that's. That's where policy meets Main Street. And I want to appreciate the opportunity to have the conversation, because a lot of people don't want to talk about it because it sounds political. I. I'm just saying if you understand the history and you understand the mechanics of what's happening, then you can understand why it's happening, and then hopefully see where there is going to be opportunity or a risk that you may want to take advantage of or avoid.

Yeah, absolutely. So everybody loves to think about and, you know, really have some idea as to what's coming next. So if you can speak to any of that, you know, your thoughts about future inflation or deflation, if you. I doubt you think that's in the cards, but if you do, and real estate prices, rent prices, whatever.

So I think that it all really hinges on the dollar. And I think what we're seeing is the dollar system near the end of its shelf life. If you go back and look Historically, in 2002, right around the turn of the century, silver or gold was about $250 an ounce. Today, it's $2500 an ounce, which means the dollar lost 90% of its value based on real money, gold. But if you go back at $250 an ounce, from 1913, when it was $20 an ounce, it had lost over 90% of its value. So 90% and then another 90%. And so at some point, there's not much value left. And when that begins to happen, you're going to change something in history. When the people in power debase the currency to a point, the theft becomes obvious to the people on Main Street. They usually change out the government. I think the people who are in charge today know that that's what they do. And I think some of what we're seeing politically all around the world is a result of this power system coming to an end and the fraud of inflation and printed currency becoming obvious to the common man. And we live in the age of the Internet where guys like you and I can have these conversations still relatively unfettered. Although I've gotten some denial of service attacks. You know, if I say things that are a little bit too out there.

But I think that I just can't believe what a big part the media and the big tech companies are playing in this stuff. I mean, it is the, the amount of control and censorship is unbelievable. It's so scary. But again, to your point, I mean, there's so many little, small players, so many little influencers and mini celebrities that it's really hard to, you know, for them, it's like a game of whack a mole. They'd love to shut us all down, but they just can't.

I mean, well, and there's a principle there, Jason, that's super, super important because there are people who think that if we can just put consolidate power into the hands of a person who upholds our standards, that that person will come in and make everything right. And there are people who think that that's Kamala Harris. There are people who think that's Donald Trump. But at the end of the day, that isn't the answer our founders really understood. And the point you just made is exactly the point. Power needs to be decentralized. It's the power of bitcoin and blockchain decentralized. It's the power of the Internet decentralized. It's the power of free new media decentralized. It is whack a mole. For people who are trying to contain power in a decentralized system, they can't do it. So all of their policies are designed.

To hurt hur people trying.

They try to herd you into their power structures. And so if you recognize the basic principle that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, then I think any free thinking person, regardless of what you the way you think the world should work, I think we all want to be more free. I think we all want to have more control over our decisions and our wealth, whether it's health or how we spend our money or where we work or what prices we set or what wages we pay. When somebody comes in and starts trying to micromanage your life from the top Down. History says it doesn't end well. And part of that is because human beings, I think, inherently don't want to be ruled in that way, even though they want to give people power to rule others that way, thinking it will make them freer. But that, I believe, is a false promise. So to me, anything that decentralized. I'm not a fan of Wall Street. I would rather see people invest on Main Street. I'd rather see people who earn money on Main street reinvest that money in Main street, whether it's housing syndications, apartment buildings, development projects, farms, little factories, mom and pop shops, small businesses. I think the more Main street entrepreneurism or Main street capitalism that we have, the healthier, more decentralized our society will be and the more free people will be. So I'm that, you know, where. Where I'm at and the reason I left the real estate guys, not that I have any problem with Robert or the real estate guys, I enjoyed it was a great run. And we're still partners, as you mentioned, with George and Kenny in collective inner circle, and it's fantastic. But I wanted to get out and have a platform where I could kind of talk a little bit more freely about things that I feel very, very concerned about. I've got six kids and 15 grandchildren. I'm beginning to think like a founding father. I wonder what the world is going to be like 100 years from now when my kids are. And my grandkids are, you know, in their senior years and trying to worry about their kids. I feel like at some point a generation has to stand up and go, hey, you know what? This has to stop. I wish that the generation that allowed the gold to be confiscated would have said no. And the list goes on and on.

Let's talk about that, because you just made a really good point. Give us some action steps that people can take to combat this historic power grab that we are going through right now. And it's. It's kind of amazing to me that this is happening in the age of such seeming awareness and technology. And after a run where, you know, people have had it so good for so long, I mean, maybe half the population of the United States wants to go backwards. That's shocking to me. But, you know, share some action steps, action ideas.

Well, I mean, to me, I think if you understand the idea that the ultimate minority is the individual.

Yep, fine, Rand.

Yeah. Then I think that you want to express your individuality as much as you can. And I think if you're inclined to pick up a Microphone and host a podcast. I would do that. If you're not right.

It doesn't mean, it doesn't mean putting in three nose rings and dyeing your hair pink. Okay.

Yeah. I mean, you know, I don't have a problem if people want to do that Sometimes, you know, the stereotype of people who do that have a certain policy favor which is empowering people to control other people's lives. But I think if, if you just work on being independent, I like to start with money because I think it's the common denominator. So try to invest on your own, you know, buy rental houses, work with Jason and his team and figure out how to do that when you move up to apartment buildings. Do that. Invest in things that are real tangible, that you understand, in markets that you understand. Then I think, yeah, I'm a big fan of gold as an alternative to the dollar and the banking system. I think having some is a good idea. It helps you be more independent. I think having some cash outside the banking system, just in case the banking system decides to limit how much, much access you can have. There are places around the world, I know you just traveled and George was talking about that at Limitless, where people can't get money out. You know, $40 a day, you know, you might have a lot of money in the bank, but if you can get it, what good is it? But I think the other thing too is, and one of my current passions is next generation. You know, we're very concerned, a lot of people are very concerned about this next election, but I'm very concerned about this next generation. Ronald Reagan said, freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and hand it on for them to do the same. And so whether you have kids or not, I think the thing to think about and Jason, I don't believe you have any children, but you know, 30 years from now those 10 year olds are going to be in the seats of power deciding what your life is like in your old age.

And so that's pretty scary.

It's very scary. It's very scary, especially as we're finding out what's been going on in these controlled environments. And so I think take back the education of your children. You know, we homeschooled back in the 80s and 90s before it was a thing. I'm not saying that you need to or should, but I can tell you I don't regret it at all. And I think my kids are very happy. In fact, I've got two of my kids with children that are homeschooling their children and they feel great about it. They're entrepreneurs or independent thinkers. But be very involved in what's going on in your children's lives and teach them the principles of contributing. The problem with our school systems today, in our society in general is it trains people to believe that everything they need should just magically appear because they don't actually get to be a part of production of society until they're in their mid-20s. They're basically locked out between child labor laws and minimum wage laws and then putting them in college education where they're so busy in college that they really, for the first five or four or five years of their voting life, they've never actually lived in the real world. I did a show with a young lady who was kind of in that school. She had gone to a college prep high school and got into college, got a degree in political science, had a student loan even that her parents paid tens of thousands of dollars, she still graduated with $88,000 in debt. She moved to Washington D.C. to get inside the Beltway and go into the State Department because she wanted to make the world better. And she couldn't get a job, so she got a job in retail and didn't make any money because of chargebacks. And so she ended up starting her own business and she made I think $50,000 her first six months. And what she realized by becoming a Main street capitalist was that the policies that she believed in and supported and the things that she thought were good for America were actually made her life miserable. And she did 180. And it wasn't a political decision, it was a pragmatic decision. And I think we're seeing that right now. I think people on Main street have realized that they've been sold out by certain policies and politicians and the dividing lines aren't what they've always been. So you ask for actionable items. To me, break free from as many systems of control as you can. Use your freedoms, they're like muscles. If you don't use them, you lose them. And invest in things you own and control. Take more responsibility and invest in the next generation knowing that that is a great investment because they will be making the decisions that will affect your life. If a 10 year old today is taught that taking 25% of unrealized capital gains levels the playing field that makes their life better and they don't understand because they never had any capital gains, they don't understand what that really means in the real world, then they'll grow up and vote for it. And that could be the reality that those of us who, you know, have a different feeling are going to have to deal with and so invest in in young people. And that's a big part this raising capitalist project that I'm doing. That's really my focus right now.

Yeah, good stuff. Any thoughts you want to leave us with? Just wrap it up and please give out your website, tell people where they can find you.

Yeah, I think you just study, read the news and don't read it as truth, read it as a question and then ask yourself if it makes sense and you can learn a lot, ask a lot of questions, listen to smart people and continue to dig in and strive to understand, take personal responsibility as I mentioned, and really promote freedom and decentralization. As far as me, I'm in the process of getting all my new brands and shows set up, so the best way to track me is just send an email to follow at Russell Gray R u s s e-l l gray G-R-A-Y.com russellgray.com and I will be happy to let you know when I pop up and I start having things start to say that you can listen to.

Sounds good. Russell Gray, thanks again for joining us.

Thanks Jason.

Thank you so much for listening. Please be sure to subscribe so that you don't miss any episodes. Be sure to check out the show's specific website and our general website, hartman media.com for appropriate disclaimers and terms of service. Remember that guest opinions are their own, and if you require specific legal or tax advice or advice in any other specialized area, please consult an appropriate professional. And we also very much appreciate you reviewing the show. Please go to itunes or Stitcher Radio or whatever platform you're using and write a review for the show. We would very much appreciate that and be sure to make it official and subscribe so you do not miss any episodes. We look forward to seeing you on the next episode.