Choice Conversations

Looking ahead and looking for opportunities with Jason Hartman, CEO of a real estate investment firm and host of his very .own podcast 'Creating Wealth with Jason Hartman. In this New Years Day episode we cover alot of ground, talking about predictions, social media, precious metals, and what Jason knows best... real estate. Jasons podcast is one I have listened to for over a year now and every few weeks I scan the list of guests to find topics that interest me. His podcast centers around real estate but the topics are varied and the interviews are excellent. You can find his podcast on Itunes.  The Creating Wealth Podcast Holistic Survival Podcast, Jasons other podcast Jason Hartmans Website Some other mentionable links; Life or Debt the movie, John Perkins Confessions of an Economic Hitman, Join the Social Media Craze and become a friend of Two Beers with Steve on Facebook, all the cool kids are doing it in 2010!    

When I first got confirmation that Bill Still was going to be on 'Two Beers With Steve' I rushed to my wife to tell her the good news... that I would soon be talking with a legend, an icon of mine. I have to thank Nathan Martin for making the meeting possible, Nathan also sat in during the interview and we all had a great conversation. Bill Still has been beating the drum for monetary reform for decades, long before my 'awakening' Bill was hard at work writing books, articles and had made the film 'The Money Masters'. His latest venture has been another film titled 'The Secret of Oz', which I have seen and highly recommend. This interview covers many topics but the most facsinating discovery for me was finding out how Bill Still, a journalist, became to be interested in monetary reform. A great interview, thanks Bill. Buy The Secret of Oz - Buy the film and support the cause.  The Secret of Oz Website Subscribe to Two Beers With Steve on Itunes, you can also become a fan of Two Beers With Steve on Facebook  

Nathan Martin of Nathans Economic Edge talks with me about his vision of where monetary reform should be headed, what he calls Freedom's Vision.   In this first discussion, Nathan points out the problems with our current system and possible tactics to enact REAL change. Nathan also makes the distinction between hoping change will happen and working towards making change happen... (hint, they are not the same thing, at all). In a later episode we will be discussing a few more concepts of Nathans proposed plan and we will also be talking with Bill Still, narrator of the films The Secret of Oz and The Money Masters. Please join us. As always, become a dear friend of Two Beers With Steve on Facebook, you'll be glad you did! Subscribe through Itunes for automatic downloads of new episodes.  

James Howard Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency takes a seat at the roundtable to discuss Peak Oil and the American lifestyle. This was an hour of discussion on the grim reality of a world that is not planning on a world without plentiful and cheap oil, with moments of humor and chat splashed in for good measure.  James Howard Kunstler's Website Buy the book The Long Emergency The KunstlerCast, JHK's own podcast. Subscribe to Two Beers With Steve through Itunes Two Beers With Steve has a Facebook page and is desperately looking for friends.  

Josh Kosman author of the book, The Buyout of America, talks with the Two Beers With Steve crew about how he sees the Next Great Credit Crisis coming from the failures of companies that were acquired by the Private Equity firms during the PE boom of 2000-2007. Steve picked up this book because it is the only new release to be looking at the challenges in front of us and not what has already happened (ie. the housing meltdown or bailouts). Excellent book, excellent interview. Buy the book here The Buyout of America Website Listen to the NPR podcast with Josh Kosman and Terry Gross

The Two Beers With Steve Magnum Opus. What are we going to do about it? Are we going to keep typing intelligent forum posts and slapping ourselves on the back because we are soooo smart. Or is the constant-student (that would be you!) finally going to get to the point in his/hers re-education and back away from the computer and join in on the movement. I have faith that the movement is under way you'll just have to find it. Find your role in how you can help and get out there. You can help me (Steve), I most definitely could use the assistance and let me be clear, we will screw up, we'll be amateurs, we'll embarrass ourselves, and we'll pick ourselves back up and keep marching forward. I'm finally getting busy...

The second part of our two part interview with Steve Crower on the topic of Peak Oil. I would highly suggest you listen to Part 1 before listening to this episode as we make some references to the earlier episode.

In this episode we interview the author of the viral video "Peak Oil 91 * 86 * 90", Steve Crower. Up until two weeks ago Steve Crower was virtually unknown to any of the Two Beers With Steve crew until his video was forwarded onto me. Steve Crower is an energy investment banker with Starlight Investments LLC of Denver, CO who started researching the topic of Peak Oil in 2005 after a Matt Simmons speech. Watch the Peak Oil video here (8 Minutes) Subscribe to Two Beers With Steve through Itunes and receive downloads automatically. Two Beers With Steve now has a facebook page. Become a fan.  

In this episode we go back to our roots and give you a glimpse of what happens when we just get together and BS about random topics. Even though there may be some faulty assumptions in our logic sometimes (On a second review I realized the error of my www.prosper.com 100% reserve banking argument) but the discsussions have an important role in our Metamorphosis. The Metamorphosis from the type of people that read, listen and comment on the topics covered in the Crash Course to the type of people that can talk about these topics and teach others as well as overcoming common objections to our arguments. Obviously, we are still in the learning phase so feel free to comment on our discussions. I consider these sessions 'Practice' for those opportunities when I get in front of people who are genuinely interested in hearing what I have to say and I don't want to confuse or bore them. Links Mentioned McAlvany Podcast - Terrific podcast, I highly recommend making this part of your weekly listening (along with Max Kei

Pat Carmack, producer of the film The Money Masters, joins us for a discussion on how the film came into existence along with his thoughts on the banking industry and the Federal Reserve. Probably the highlight of the show for me was Pat's stance on the gold standard and a 100% reserve ratio for banks. Pat also gave good insight on money creation and the repeating pattern of market manipulations by banks. The Money Masters Website Subscribe to Two Beers With Steve through Itunes and get direct downloads to your Ipod.

In this episode of Two Beers With Steve I speak one on one with Prof. George Selgin, Professor of Economics at the University of Georgia's Terry School of Business. We begin our discussion with definitions of what is money and what constitutes money before we begin exploring George Selgin's theory of Free Banking. Free Banking, in a quick one sentence description, is a completely deregulated banking system, free of a central bank and the FDIC, where private banks make loans and issue their own money. In this interview Prof. Selgin describes the problems of our current system and offers a possible solution, the Free Banking system. It is becoming increasingly obvious to me, Steve, that the Federal Reserve is not the answer to the problem, but that it is the problem. More about Prof. George Selgin Good Money Book by George Selgin. Good Money tells the fascinating story of British manufacturers' challenge to the Crown's monopoly on coinage  

In this episode we talk with author Ellen H. Brown, author of Web of Debt, about the creation of money, public banking, and naked short selling. Upcoming guests for Two Beers With Steve are: Richard Heinberg - Author of nine books including The Party's Over, Peak Everything and the newly released Blackout George Selgin - University of Georgia Proffesor of Economics and authro fo the book The Theory of Free Banking Also we will speak with the Producer of the Money Masters film w/ Bill Still. As always you can subscribe to get automatic downloads of the show as soon as they are available. Thanks Show Notes Money as Debt Naked Short Selling Exponential Growth  

In Episode 20 - Investing for uncertainty I outline the approach that I (Steve) will be taking to navigate the near future. I am not a speculator but with interest rates on certificates of deposit near zero and the dollar in jeopardy I've moved into more non-traditional markets. This podcast has a slow start because I go from reading 'Goodnight Moon' and Thomas and the Big Big Bridge' to walking into my office and recording 'Two Beers With Steve'. Enjoy. For those that are concerned I have moved my personal financial files to a thumb drive and I lock that thumb drive in a firesafe, I will move it to the safety deposit box next time I make the run. Links The Book Rick discussed    

We re-visit an earlier episode (Episode 12), which was an episode where the regular roundtable made observations on the current healthcare. This time around we invited a doctor, Dr. Christopher Peters, and a hospital Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Bill Patterson, to give us an insiders perspective to the healthcare discussion going on in towns across America. Although this is a departure from our normal financial, economic, and monetary topics we discuss I felt it was important to re-visit this topic for a number of reasons. Many of the reasons are brought up in the show but mainly my reasoning is to learn more about the issue. The more we learn the less we are influenced by political rhetoric and the easier it will be to come to clear conclusions. Thank you for listening. Questions, Comments, email me at twobeerswithsteve@hotmail.com You can subscribe to the show through Itunes

I'm very excited about presenting this interview with Leo Kolivakis due to the fact that Pensions are for the most part largely ignored by all media sources, even by the best financial blogs out there. Pensions not only pose a systemic risk financially but as Leo explains they pose a major deflationary risk. Luckily, I get to edit these podcasts so I get to hear a second listen and I would suggest re-listening to the last thirty minutes a second time. Websites mentioned. http://pensionpulse.blogspot.com/ http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/ http://www.zerohedge.com/ http://www.pensiontsunami.com/

After the formal interview concludes we twist the caps off of a few more and have a casual conversation with Nathan about investing for an uncertain future and inflation vs. deflation. To check out Nathans blog check out http://economicedge.blogspot.com/ Please don't forget to submit 3-5 minute audio clips for an upcoming podcast made up of nothing but listeners submissions. Please be a part of this groundbreaking episode!  

We titled this episode we talk with Nathan Martin of the website 'Nathans Economic Edge', one of the many excellent blogs on the internet trumpeting the problems in our financial system and how the problems still persist despite all the government intervention. During our one hour talk we try to look back on the events that led us down the road to our national insolvency. We also explored many of the problems that still exist and will exist unless something... 'happens'. It was an excellent conversation with Nathan and we look forward to talking with again in the future. We will be releasing an 'Afterhours' portion of this podcast whenever i get around to editing it. Also, I am looking for listeners to submit 3-5 minute audio MP3 files in which they talk about an issue that would be of interest to our listeners. Thank you, Steve

In our first 'Afterhours' Edition of Two Beers With Steve we let the recorder run while we finished out our six packs before heading off to bed at night. Usually, after we wrap up the show we all stick around because nobody wants to go home and we have some of our best discussions and unfortunately I haven't been taping them, but from now on I will (if there is alot of interest). Let us know what you think. Email me at twobeerswithsteve@hotmail.com or twobeerswithsteve@gmail.com  

In Episode 16 we talk with Jules Dervaes of the Path to Freedom webiste. http://www.pathtofreedom.com/ . Our discussion ranged from how Monsanto has gained control of Mother Natures seeds and have exploited them for profit, to discussions on self-sustainability and what Jules is doing in his own life to be self-dependent. Other websites to visit that were mentioned in the podcast  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCPEBM5ol0Q http://www.freedomseeds.org/ http://www.freedomgardens.org/ http://www.homegrownrevolution.com/ http://www.peddlerswagon.com/ You can subscribe to the Two Beers with Steve podcast through  Itunes using this link http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=315666764

Daniel from the VisionVictory returns to our show for Episode 15. In this episode we discuss the flaws of the fundmentals being reported through Main Stream Media sources... and why they trumpet these flawed numbers. Click below to link directly into Itunes for download, you can also subscribe through this link. http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=315666764