Pop Trends Price Culture

What made a sitting president go on TV to show America a big bag of crack cocaine - literally? And what made a later president drop the phrase “War On Drugs” from his vocabulary?

Real liberty begins with independent thinking -- and Professor Dennis Elam is really good at it. You heard his insights for yourself if you caught part one of our interview, and in part two he covers an even more amazing range of topics...

Dr. Dennis Elam is a tenured professor of accounting at Texas A & M University, San Antonio. He is an expert in finance, yet Professor Elam blows up stereotypes about the accounting profession. He's incredibly well versed in popular culture: his insights go from Richard Pryor, to themes in cinema, to the "mob museum" in Las Vegas. And, as we learned in conversation with Professor Elam, he actually applies socionomics in his curriculum for accounting -- students love it.

Can you name the MOST authoritarian government document in U.S. history? A Pulitzer Prize winning author described it as a plan "for America's intelligence services ... to monitor the communications...

Lots of critics say television has been in a second "Golden Era." But truth be told, the phrase 'Dark Golden Era' describes it better -- because the best shows in the past 15 years have indeed been a deep shade of "dark gold."  Listen in and hear Robert Folsom's four top nominees for the best and most conspicuously negative shows since 1999 (yes, including Game of Thrones).

The 'Rural Purge' of the 1970-1971 season changed television forever -- it was fast, dramatic and revolutionary, yet it's all but unknown today. This historic transformation reveals an influence more powerful than historians and sociologists can ever discern.

Alastair MacDonald has a pretty cool resume: Successful business owner, stockbroker on Wall Street, and a real estate investor. Yet he was born & raised in Zimbabwe, so before his career in finance he was a professional hunter and safari guide. Alastair has had amazing success using socionomics to anticipate major trend changes. Hear his story now.

Two stories this week reveal huge possible abuses of government power. Both stories were vastly underreported in the media -- and both also sound too far-fetched to be true... but they are.

The 100-year rise of the security state did NOT happen in subtle steps across decades. Instead, nearly all the growth came during identifiable SURGES — specific periods when the downtrend in social mood fueled the uptrend of authoritarianism.

When Uncle Sam said 'I want YOU,' they stepped forward. But after 14 years the U.S. government STILL would not pay the money it owed tens of thousands of military veterans for their war service. This shameful true story previews the rise of the security state.

Andrew Baptiste's career spans three decades on Wall Street, including senior positions at Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan. Yet his familiarity with the Elliott Wave Principle began even earlier, as an insight literally passed from father to son.

When do you know the past is about to repeat itself? Well, in the stock market that time comes when you hear phrases like “This time it’s different,” or, like today’s “New Normal.” Get the 9-minute...

Can you name the first “Rock Star” economist? No, not Robert Shiller. Not Greenspan. Not even Milton Friedman. It was the 1920s, when virtually every literate American knew Irving Fisher.

What could the Federal Reserve and comedian Bill Cosby possibly have in common? In a sentence, “Ruined reputations, thanks to negative social mood.” Yes it sounds bizarre -- but hear Robert Folsom and TR explore WHY the ugly hidden truths about heroes (and heroic institutions) can so suddenly make news. Listen for yourself.

The central bank has a story to tell about itself. Should you believe it? We explain why the Fed wants you to think it has superpowers, even as it befuddles you with preposterous language.

How do you define "Deflation"? Hint: It begins with psychology, NOT with falling prices. Deflation turns the economy and financial world upside down, to the point that borrowers get PAID by lenders. Get the 9-minute story in this episode of Pop Trends, Price Culture.

We survey history's greatest horror films across the decades, and WHY they so often cluster during stock market declines.

Bond yields have fallen to 50-year lows in the world's major economies, and this trend has reached nearly ALL countries. Yet if you can even find a news article about this story, it will probably include phrases like "unanticipated," "surprise," and "against the consensus forecast." What that means is, the experts did NOT see any of this coming...

Three hugely popular horror movies, and three simultaneous stock market declines. Is that just a semi-interesting coincidence... or could the timing of bear markets in stocks and the popularity of...

Social mood transformed a pair of conventional comedians - George Carlin and Richard Pryor - into two of history's greatest stand-up comedians. Hear the story you haven't heard told until now...