Somewhere around 1986 the Fox Network started. Many including myself thought, “Well how is this going to work, we already have 2(CBS), 4(NBC) and 7(ABC)”. Three decades later we have more media choices than we know what to do with. The sad thing is that when you listen to Fox or MSNBC you think you are listening to different opinion. Democrat (Liberal) versus Republican (Conservative). Yes, I do see that these are two divergent opinions on a given topic, but what if we are arguing about the wrong topic. Today I believe the issues are not left or right, Republican or Democrat. This argument that has us missing the point. Fox and MSNBC have got us so myopically looking at the picture the we can’t see the forest from the trees. This is where alternative media gives us a chance to re-frame the problem from a different perspective.
Let me give you an example. Going back a decade or so ago when Paul Ryan was arguing with Barack Oboma about the Federal Budget there was only a 3% difference between both budgets. The Republicans were calling the Democrats “Spendthrifts” and the Democrats called the Republican Budget “Draconian Cuts”. All the while if you picked a side, you would be would be cheering “Your Team” on as if it were the superbowl. But what if there was a different perspective? Let me give you a different perspective.
Our Federal Budget is about 4.75 Trillion, while our revenue is only 3.64 Trillion. This means we only bring in 77 cents for every dollar we spend. This doesn’t however take in to consideration our unfunded liabilities like social security, so it is more realistic to estimate that we only bring in about 65 cents for every dollar we spend. If you were to run your household budget like that you would be homeless. Neither is this acceptable for our country. The Democrats wanted to spend 1 dollar while the Republicans only wanted to spend 97 cents, all the while we only make 65 cents. So the media has us arguing over the 3 cent difference while we are 35 cents short. Which is the REAL issue, the three cents or the 35 cent deficit?
My made up analogy is that FOX and MSNBC are arguing over whether we should spend $3 on a Starbucks cup of coffee versus your local donut shop $1 coffee, yet both parties have failed to make their mortgage payment. The cup of coffee is a judgement call in your family budget, NOT making your mortgage payment is NOT an option.
Our news sources are no longer news sources. They are mostly opinion pieces. If we were to only listen to our mainstream media and believe we were getting the news we would be sorely misinformed. For this reason alternative opinion or actual real news is critical to balancing the rhetoric. The value of alternative media is it allows us to think outside the box.
We need to know about your pundint’s prospective. It is always important to “Consider Your Source”.
Without further ado, here are some of my favorite alternative media sources and their perspective
Chris McCullough – Hedgeye.com – He is a former hedge fund manager that now provides detailed macro analysis for investment purposes. His firm has 41 research analysts and provides daily investment analysis. I subscribe to his service.
Peter Schiff – What Peter brings to the table is a very traditional and, in my opinion, correct way to view the economy. He can take otherwise difficult economic principles and makes them easy to understand. He correctly called the 2006 housing bust and has roots in Austrian Economics. He puts out a podcast about two times per week.
Tom Woods – NY Times best selling author. Tom Woods produces an amazing amount of content through his daily podcast. He has some of the best guests. He makes it very clear that he comes from a Libertarian point of view. He is a Harvard professor and an American Historian.
Real Vision – YouTube channel – Great financial interviews. Really high quality information and presentation.
Macro Voices – Eric Townsend – retired software entrepreneur turned hedge fund manager. Excellent interviews and information.
George Gammon – YouTube channel – He is a real estate investor who has a great understanding of financial maters. More importantly he distills difficult concepts into understandable well produced videos.
Jason Burack – Wall Street for Main Street Podcast. Former oil analyst. Great daily market commentary.
Danielle Di Martino – For Dallas Fed analyst. Her book “Fed Up” was just exceptional. She has a great understanding of how economics really works and understands how the Federal Reserves is blind because of a lack of pragmatic experience and an excess of theoretical education.
Max Keiser – Max Keiser is broadcast on RT.com. “What is RT.com you ask?” It is Russian Television. I know hard to believe, but I listen to this program. RT.com is just like CNBC, but with a different world view. You need to take Max with a grain of salt, because he is more entertainment and spectacle than hard core news. I do however strongly agree with his views on the financial elite running or destroying our financial system. Both Max and I would agree that they were was something not right about there not being jail time as a result of the 2008 Mortgage Crisis.
There are literally too many people to list, but I know many of the players and what they think. Here is a partial list of people who’s opinion I respect. Most are well respected investors, former hedge fund managers and authors. Ray Dalio, Jim Roger, Marc Faber, Jim Rickards, Eric Sprott, Luke Groman and Lawrence Lepard.
The last year has been a VERY difficult market to navigate. Over the course of the last 2 months, I have spent over 4 hours a day researching financial markets. I believe that the next several years will be more of the same, rough waters. I share these financial observations with you because I take your investment decisions very seriously. You should expect nothing less from you trusted service providers.
Thanks for reading, we invite your calls or questions – John Dumke
P.S. – Let me know what are your favorite alternative media sources.