Ted Balaker: If you’re looking to a politician for how you are going to get your subtenants in the future forget it. Hi I’m Ted Balaker with reason.tv and today I’ll be speaking with Michael Covel, Covel is a best selling financial author and director of the new documentary Broke, The New American Dream. So Michael why did you make this film?
Michael Covel: Somebody had to make it.
Ted Balaker: But there have been plenty of documentaries already about the financial crisis, why your—
Michael Covel: No, there is been documentaries that have been blame somebody or give somebody an excuse that has been a documentary or somebody actually says, hey this is what happen and we have to take responsibility and here is a way out.
Ted Balaker: And I like your documentary did jus that zero in the individual, what is your big picture advice to the one guy watching.
Michael Covel: Cut your losses, I mean if you can make a bad investment get out.
Ted Balaker: But people don’t like to do that, a lot of the film goes into why buying hold is a bad idea and why is that a bad idea.
Michael Covel: It’s in the strategy and by the strategy it’s saying this is how I’m gong to trade the markets and if you’re using a trading strategy that it doesn’t make money after a dozen years you have to say to yourself well maybe if I hold on for another dozen it will work or you have to reassess and say, this is really a good strategy.
Ted Balaker: What do you hope of realistic with the viewer, politicians do not care about you, politicians exist for one reason, one reason to sit in a chair and they wanted to sit in the chair because that chair gives them power and so when they come on TV and they tell you that they care about you and they want to help you etc, etc, etc. No, when the camera goes off they talk with to there aid about what the poles are and how they can keep power and if they re-elected etc, etc. See it’s a grove of that.
Michael Covel: And they’re making very— there political decision and short term political decisions.
Ted Balaker: Yeah exactly.
Michael Covel: Will the short term political session just to keep getting elected and so that’s a really huge issues to get people understand that politicians are not your daddy you know and if you think they are will you probably prop by the time you retire and you will be one of those people that you’re looking around during retirement age, what I am going to need today. How about cat food, if you’re looking for a politician for how your going to get your sustenance in the future forget it.
Ted Balaker: Nowadays after you know we have this big down turn, people are more confuse than ever. What do you say to someone who is just overwhelmed by other noise on both sides? What could you see to that person to start to write his own financial shape?
Michael Covel: If I’m advising somebody and you’re really broadly honest to somebody you say look you got to take a step back perhaps you did everything all. You know you put no money down, you bought a condo until the last year end but now you got to do something different and you got to take a step back and you are going to say, okay I got to go back to like a kid running eliminate stand. I put eliminate stand up and if someone buy something for me I’ll make money if they don’t I loss money or you know I don’t make any money and you got to bet back to the basics. I mean life is really pretty simple, you know you produce, you get rewarded for if you don’t produce you don’t get rewarded for and occasionally this crazy bubble times happen where everybody feel like they’re getting money from that but that’s usually pleading.
Ted Balaker: Mention the role of government, you’ve mention that government is not your daddy; the government is one of the main balances in your film. What specifically did the folks in Washington do wrong?
Michael Covel: Well first I answer that question I take step back, how do we get to the point in 2010 where we are today. And I say it starts with one thing, it starts with net skip going public in the summer of 1995. And that creature that probably this country not seen for decades upon decades and you for you create you all know now as the dot com bubble and the bubble did not last and it pop to the spring of 2000. And when that bubble pop in the spring 2000, my prospective the powers to be whether it’s politician to feed etc, they said you know what we’ve got to save the dough, and they dropped the interstate down to 1% I guess in bottom down the spring of those three. In getting rates down to 1% did something, you created another bubble, created the role state bubble. And so when you look at this things you will say, what the politicians do wrong you know there it is. They rig the market, the rig it and they rig it to interest rate manipulation and that interest rate manipulation created I mean the interest rate manipulation came after the dot com bubble created another bubble and we’re paying that still today. So I argued all star with this gate.
Ted Balaker: You are also very tough on the media and your documentary, what rule did the media playing and getting the scent of this mask?
Michael Covel: There is a cheerleaders, I mean seriously I mean if you turn on CBS in the morning and you say hey, I’m going to make some money today let’s do it and let’s see and panorama and creamer have to say, I mean really? I mean you and I know some of the protractors in this planet that do exceptionally well and they do not turn on CBC in the morning and go what is Mark Cane have to say you know. So at the end of the day CBC is a business, and it’s a very successful business, they make a lot of money and the business is for you to turn on and watch and watch the advertise and come across the screen and that’s how they make money. But there is nothing to do with you making money.
Ted Balaker: And Jim Cremar is a guy in zero in on particular and one into thin point and your movie is that when he mentions the stock the next day it would have his mention in the stuff would have sizable impact on that stock price correct?
Michael Covel: Right, parents are done some more research and they have look I think like on average like 2% boost and any of them it didn’t necessary last but it showed that there are a lot of people you know they’re sitting there in house and you know oh my gosh you know I don’t know how to make money, I don’t know what to do and this guy Cremar you say he run they say that you know he run a successful Hodge fun and you know its kind of loud and crazy and hey it says to buy something today and I guess I should buy it. And what’s the different between that and going to Vegas and you know in Mandalay Bay and go into crops table that’s the same thing.
Ted Balaker: You mentioned gambling one of the most interesting parts about your film I think was the time you took to compare of the lottery to poker, you have some famous poker player and there is well can you take about that?
Michael Covel: I’m pretty passion about that because I mean I look it’s really that you know it’s one of the things that we really have trouble to the society is math and numbers. How do we look at numbers in math and the government this people that say they’re going to help us they’re in charge of this big scam called the lottery which is decide to take the money from poor people’s pockets and you know I think what the number tickets like a 35 % or some number of 40% of people that make under 35K believe the lottery there best chats to get a half million dollars for retirement. That’s sad, that’s really sad and that was organized by the government.
Ted Balaker: Everybody is trying to make sense of the financial down turn and beside and you know this I what cost it.
Michael Covel: We have to bubbles back to back the dot come bubble and the real estate bubble and we can think up every sophisticated explanation but people wanted to get rich fast and then the harder to these things burst actually happens every three to four years and it’s not just like you know the situation happens and they have more regularly than we think I mean the only public policy that I really put mine and I say hey that was really at least for the really estate bubble was to lowering of interest rate. Is that really there is no date on my mind that, that created for you. That was the gasoline.
Ted Balaker: Do you think we’re going to learn from our mistake if your looking to this?
Michael Covel: Of course not.
Ted Balaker: Good, good.
Michael Covel: Of course not, what we are going to learn we’re not learning anything I mean I think the release of bunch of programs today supposed to that’s going to keep real estate flooding in air even further and you know you hope one day that maybe real estate will find it’s natural floor whatever that is or props that dough in it’s natural floor but not and I don’t think we’re going to learn anything. I mean I hope we do but there is too many people there that they don’t too because it’s hard work and it’s work you know what’s going on, it’s hard work to understand what some of the great industrial do, what some of the great poker players do. That takes time and effort and it’s much easier that if you know the leader of the free worlds stands on Labor Day and says, he give to everyone goodies and there is much people stand behind them smiling that’s much easier for a lot of people and I’m not look I’m not pointing to the right to the left I’m saying from my stand point most politician really had zero value.