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Scott talks with Mike Swanson about where things stand with the economy and where current trends are heading. They discuss Fed policy, the boom-bust cycle, the national debt and more.

Discussed on the show:

• The War State by Michael Swanson
• Why The Vietnam War? by Michael Swanson
• Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises by Ray Dalio
• Wall Street Window

Mike Swanson provides investment advice at wallstreetwindow.com and is the author of The War State: The Cold War Origins Of The Military-Industrial Complex And The Power Elite. He also works with the Neopolis Media Group, a group of historians, educators, authors, researchers, and free speech advocates who endeavor to provide original and engaging content, including The Ochelli Effect, and The Lone Gunman Podcast.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Moon Does Artisan Coffee; Roberts and Robers Brokerage Incorporated; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; Libertas Bella; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott.

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Conn Hallinan, a writer for Foreign Policy in Focus, discusses Trump’s bombastic rhetoric and ever-changing policy pronouncements on Iran, Yemen, and North Korea; and how he could blunder into war with China if he follows through on threats to blockade China from islands it controls in the South China Sea.

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Grant F. Smith, director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, discusses the $254 billion in inflation-adjusted US aid to Israel since 1949; the pro-Israel think tanks that try to hide Israel’s large share of foreign aid by comparing it to US expenditures and troop deployments in Japan, Germany and South Korea; and why Israel has no real common interests with the US and hasn’t reciprocated like an allied country should.

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Gareth Porter, an independent investigative journalist and author of Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare, discusses why Trump’s anti-Iran talk is not much different than that of the last several administrations’ before his, going back to Bill Clinton’s presidency; and why actual US policy on Iran is controlled less by the president than the interests of the permanent national security state, which is hostile to Iran yet risk-averse and fond of the status quo.

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Jon Schwarz, a writer for The Intercept, discusses President Trump’s executive order restricting immigration and why most Americans are understandably confused about why “Muslims hate us,” since politicians and the media completely avoid making any link between decades of US invasion, occupation, and sanction of the Middle East and the unavoidable terrorism blowback such a foreign policy generates.

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Mark Perry, author of Talking to Terrorists: Why America Must Engage with its Enemies, discusses the military philosophy of new national security adviser Lt. General H.R. McMaster, who, as smart and qualified as he is, might not be the best man for the job; and the growing anti-Russia tilt within President Trump’s cabinet that runs counter to his campaign promises to improve relations between the world’s preeminent nuclear powers.

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Brad Hoff, a US Marine veteran and writer on Middle East affairs, discusses the newly declassified CIA document from 1986 entitled “Syria: Scenarios of Dramatic Political Change,” that spells out a regime change policy remarkably similar to today’s anti-Assad rhetoric coming out of Washington; and why nobody bothers to consider that the successor to an overthrown secular autocratic state could be even worse – a radical Islamic State, for example.

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George Joseph, an editorial fellow at CityLab, discusses the widespread use of powerful cell phone interception and extraction equipment by police departments, and their collection of phone location data and even the content of texts and calls with devices like “Stingrays” and “Dirtboxes” that vacuum up private information and don’t discriminate between suspected criminals and ordinary people.

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Rick Sterling, an investigative journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area, discusses the many flaws in Amnesty International’s report accusing the Syrian government of executing thousands of political prisoners in mass hangings. This is AI’s contribution to the West’s propaganda machine that is trying to escalate the war in Syria and push for Assad’s ouster. AI has previously backed up false accusations (the infamous incubator babies) against Iraq in the lead up to the Gulf War and against Libya in 2011 as the US-backed regime change operation progressed.

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