Holistic Survival Show - Economic Crisis

Humanity faces many challenges, such as climate disruptions, species extinction, shortage of cheap oil, overpopulation, limited resources – a list that could go on and on. But Jason Hartman’s guest on this episode, internationally recognized author Duane Elgin says the biggest concern is how urgent we see our situation. What Duane sees developing are these trends converging into the “perfect storm,” a crisis of all of the world’s systems. This means political systems, economic systems, social systems, spiritual and religious systems that have overextended themselves, requiring humanity to pull together. He feels this will happen around the 2020s. Duane explains humanity’s separation from nature and from one another, stating we have succeeded so well that we’ve run into our limits and undermined our future success. His stories suggest ways for the human race to pull together, to create sustainability, stressing that system breakdown is actually good news in order to move into a new relationship with one another and the Earth. Please visit www.HolisticSurvival.com for more on Duane and Great Transition Stories.

DUANE ELGIN is an internationally recognized speaker, author, and media activist. His books include: The Living Universe, Promise Ahead, Voluntary Simplicity, and Awakening Earth. With Joseph Campbell and other scholars, he co-authored Changing Images of Man. He has worked as a senior staff member of the Presidential Commission on the American Future (looking ahead from 1970 to 2000) and as a senior social scientist with the think-tank SRI International where he coauthored numerous studies of the long-range future. In 2006, Duane received the international Goi Peace Award in recognition of his contribution to a global “vision, consciousness, and lifestyle” that fosters a “more sustainable and spiritual culture.” Duane received an MBA from the Wharton Business School, and an MA in economic-history from the University of Pennsylvania. Duane’s personal website is: www.DuaneElgin.com His professional site is: www.GreatTransitionStories.org. 

It’s a fact – many people suffer a mid-life crisis between the ages of 40 and 60. It is a transition period during which one realizes their life may be half over and they reflect on their accomplishments in life, their regrets, and what they would still like to do. Jason Hartman interviews author, Michael Cosgrove, who endured what he called a three-quarter life crisis at the age of 60 that led to his book, Imperfect Passage. Michael had a great life that he had worked hard to achieve – a beautiful family, a successful career, and a lovely home in southern California with views of the Pacific Ocean. But Michael was not taking to the idea of old age well. He wanted to establish a legacy for his family and decided to “shake things up” by embarking on a long and dangerous adventure to attempt to sail around the world.

Michael was not prepared for the rigors of such an adventure and suffered many hardships and mental and emotional stress, including a dangerous crew member with a personality disorder. Michael talks about the biggest surprise that came from this attempt, the psychological impact. On the ocean, he noted, you lose all of your control, which required him to adapt to the environmental conditions and get a grip on his attitude.  As Michael says, “You can’t change the direction of the wind, but you can adjust your sails.” Another lesson he learned was to recognize the difference between a temporary inconvenience and a real problem. Listen at:  www.HolisticSurvival.com for more about Michael’s rough voyage that ultimately led to some of the best lessons about life. Michael Cosgrove earned his BS from Michigan State University and his Masters in psychology from Western Michigan University. He has been a teacher, a coach, a psychologist (MA), a model and an actor. For the past 32 years, he has been masquerading as an insurance agent. The writing process for his book was an emotional experience for him because he has always battled debilitating Dyslexia. First, he hears the words in his head, then feels them in his heart, and they come out of his fingertips onto the keys of his computer. His hope is that his message in Imperfect Passage will add value to the lives of his readers. He realized it’s not about him, or the book, but what he can offer the audience as a result of his experience. He hopes the readers will find meaning in the power of success, as well as the lessons of defeat.

Think about the times you have lied about something.  Were they little white lies to save face or to protect someone? Was there a big lie that led to another lie or that, once learned, hurt someone deeply or caused a serious trust issue?  On this episode, Jason Hartman interviews expert interrogator, Greg Hartley, author of How to Spot a Liar: Why People Don’t Tell the Truth…and How You Can Catch Them. Greg explains that on the continuum of normal, there are three reasons people lie:  Love, hate and greed. He also says there are people who lie for self-preservation, while there are people who lie for sport to see what they can get away with in life. Greg describes the positions of interrogator and confessor. He mentions there are 14 different ploys that interrogators use that are tied to the ego, love, hate and greed. He also points out body language to look for in liars. One quick tip is if a person seems too perfect, overly accommodating, be wary and trust your instincts. For more details, listen at:  www.HolisticSurvival.com.

Greg Hartley's expertise as an interrogator first earned him honors with the United States Army. More recently, it has drawn national level intelligence organizations and international Media to seek his insights about “how to” as well as “why.” He graduated from the U.S. Army Interrogation School, the Anti-Terrorism Instructor Qualification Course, the Principle Protection Instructor Qualification Course, and SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) school. His skills as an expert interrogator earned praise while he served as SERE Instructor, Operational Interrogation Support to the 5th Special Forces Group during operation Desert Storm, Interrogation Trainer, and as a creator and director of several joint-force, multi-national interrogation exercises from 1994 to 2000.  Among his military awards are the Knowlton Award. He attended law school at Rutgers University.

Greg has trained government agencies, private investigators, human resource representatives, and finance experts to read people and detect deception. Hartley has provided expert interrogation analysis for major network and cable television, as well as National Public Radio and prime print media such as The Washington Post and Philadelphia Enquirer . Important foreign media such as BBC, and Der Spiegel have also relied on his commentary. Hartley has contributed to articles for major magazines such as Spin, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, and Details. Hartley created simulations of interrogation for British television in Torture: The Guantanamo Guidebook, and for the History Channel in We Can Make You Talk. Greg Contributed to the upcoming movie Neurotypical. More recently Hartley has provided expert analysis of what people are really saying with behaviors and body language for national media like HLN, InSession, Paula Zahn Now, HLN Prime News and Glenn Beck. Hartley has made appearances on countless news programs, local TV, and radio around the country. Greg has extensive experience as an employee in large corporations based in the US and abroad. He has worked as a business consultant to Fortune 500 Companies in the US and consulted to international clients. Greg teaches and consults the use of Extreme Interpersonal Skills© in daily business applications.

Airplane safety has improved significantly, but there are improvements that can still be made to remove the fear that many people feel when boarding a plane. Author Dave Soucie joins Jason Hartman on this episode to talk about advances in safety and what still needs to be done. The biggest concern today is complacency, while the biggest improvement has been the implementation of Aviation Safety Information Analysis & Sharing (ASIAS), which allows for the exchange of information on precursors that may cause accidents down the road. David’s take on this is that there is a lot of room for improvement yet. He states that even the passengers are part of the safety system, stressing they need to be aware and if they see something concerning, be bold and speak up. David describes the FAA’s responsibilities and the standard regulations around the world. He also talks about the importance of the TSA, not disregarding blatant overstepping by some TSA agents, but the necessity of keeping airspace safe.

There have been many horrific airline crashes and David tells the stories behind those crashes. The way accidents are most often looked at is pilot error. But David asks the question, what caused the problem in the first place that resulted in a pilot needing to troubleshoot? The initial cause can be critical, such as faulty equipment that the airline companies know need to be replaced, but choose not to do immediately.  David and Jason close with general aviation tips and advice. Airplane crashes may be rare, but they do happen, and they’re usually fatal.  David Soucie insists that most of these deaths could be prevented.

Soucie’s worked in the cockpit, on the hanger floor, within the aviation boardroom, and inside the Washington D.C. beltway.  He’s seen death up close and personal ─ deaths of colleagues and friends that might have been prevented if he had approved certain safety measures in the aircraft they were handling.  This memoir is a gripping description of what Soucie saw and experienced as he worked in the aviation industry.  He’s now focused on understanding the hazards and risks of air travel.  As such, he is a regular consultant on the topic, from advising the Obama administration on airline safety management systems to taking a leading role as industry representative in the congressionally funded NextGen interdepartmental initiative to examine the challenges of aviation in the near future, not only for the Department of Transportation, but also for the departments of defense and Homeland Security, NASA, and the Office of National Intelligence. Since leaving the FAA in 2006, Soucie has analyzed nearly every major air disaster.  From January 2007 to June 2010, there were 240 commercial airplane accidents, 28 crashes on scheduled airlines that resulted in 1,795 deaths.

Jason Hartman interviews Alexander Green, author of the book, The Gone Fishin’ Portfolio, among others, regarding Alexander’s philosophy, which is that you can successfully manage your own money and investments and only rebalance it once a year. He stresses that the importance is following the right principles, not the right predictions. There are six things that will determine the future value of your investment portfolio:

The amount of money that you save
The length of time that you let it compound
Asset allocation
Individual securities
Expenses you pay
Taxes you absorb

Alexander encourages handling finances and investments in a sensible, straightforward, principled way. He talks about the psychology behind speculating often manifesting as overconfidence or, in some cases, an addiction. Listen at:  www.JasonHartman.com.
Alexander Green is the Chief Investment Strategist of Investment U and the Investment Director of The Oxford Club. A Wall Street veteran, he has over 25 years’ experience as a research analyst, investment advisor, portfolio manager and financial writer.
Under his direction, The Oxford Club’s portfolios have beaten the Wilshire 5000 Index by a margin of more than 3-to-1. The Oxford Club Communiqué, whose portfolio he directs, is ranked among the top investment letters in the nation by the independent Hulbert Financial Digest.
Mr. Green has been featured on “Oprah & Friends,” Fox News, “The O’Reilly Factor,” CNBC, MSNBC and C-SPAN and has been profiled by The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and Forbes among many others.
He currently writes and directs the twice-weekly Oxford Portfolio Update and three short-term trading services: The Momentum Alert, The Insider Alert and The Pacific Advantage Alert.
Mr. Green has also written three national best-sellers, including The Gone Fishin’ Portfolio, The Secret of Shelter Island and Beyond Wealth: The Road Map to a Rich Life.

Jason Hartman feels our society is terribly overdosed on medications these days, so this topic is very important. He interviews Nicky VanValkenburgh about her book, Train Your Brain, Transform Your Life: Conquer Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in 60 Days, Without Ritalin. Nicky describes how brain training works, which is an effective, non-medicinal cure for ADHD. The cure was discovered as far back as 1967, but has been largely suppressed by the media. She talks about the symptoms of ADHD and the need for stimulation. Nicky also explains Sensory Motor Rhythm, the “light and sound” machine, and shares some success stories of people who have trained their brains with her program. The training creates new neural pathways for peak brain performance and can be done from the comfort of home. Listen at:  www.HolisticSurvival.com for more information on ADHD, brain training and brain plasticity.

Nicky VanValkenburgh’s book was voted “Best Self Improvement Book of 2011” by the Mom’s Choice Awards and “Best Motivational Book” by Reader’s Favorites Awards. She was also a Grand Finalist in the USA Today Book Awards, in the Health: Alternative Medicine category. Nicky is a motivational writer with 20 years’ experience writing for newspapers and magazines. She has a Master's in Journalism, and a Bachelor's in Psychology. She is also a contributing writer for Upstate Parent, Low Country Parent and Palmetto Parent magazines, which are published in South Carolina, with a circulation of a quarter million people. Nicky is also the Director of www.Train Your Brain Transform Your Life.com which spotlights her book and 60-day brain training program for ADHD.

It is commonly known that cannabis (marijuana) helps with glaucoma and the side effects of chemotherapy. What isn’t widely known is that our bodies possess an endocannabinoid system, which regulates almost every system of our health. The phytocannabinoids produced in marijuana are very similar in molecular structure to the cannabinoids that our bodies produce. Author Clint Werner joins Jason Hartman to discuss studies that have proven the health benefits of marijuana, including for the treatment of Alzheimers, protecting the health of diabetics and fight the spread of breast cancer cells. Clint talks about the demonizing of marijuana that started in the ‘30s by Federal agents and a journalist spreading “reefer madness” throughout the country. He also discusses needed reforms. Other facts about marijuana include protecting the brain by reducing inflammation and by stimulating the production of healthy new brain cells and reducing the risk of chronic, long-term smokers for developing lung cancer. Additionally, Clint talks about the differences between strains of marijuana grown in various climates and conditions, including indoors in artificial light versus outdoors in sunlight; the health benefits of THC; smoking versus vaporization; and the numerous forms in which it is available, such as tinctures and salves.

Clint Werner has degrees in journalism and library science and has worked in the field of preventive health care for over 25 years. He studied macrobiotic cooking and practice in Boston in 1985, relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area where he co-authored the San Francisco Police Department’s health and fitness plan in 1987 and worked teaching AIDS, cancer and heart disease patients how to improve their health with diet and lifestyle changes. His writing has appeared in the book Cannabis Therapeutics in HIV/AIDS, the Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics, Macrobiotics Today, Canine Chronicle, the San Francisco Sentinel and other publications. Clint has been named “Activist of the Month” for June by NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.