Out of genuine interest, for what reason? I didn't agree with a lot of this piece but it was thought provoking, which is what Im after with The Exchange series.

The conversation was steeped in verbiage that detracted from the salient points under discussion, which is a classic trap from consultants and academicians. The salient points are already known and the conversation, imo, did not further either the understanding or the implications of such issues. It seemed like more energy and thought was put into how the discussion was going to be expressed while sacrificing the potential depth and analysis of the discussion points. In short, nobody had much to add to what is already known. If I offended anybody, I apologize. I have high expectations from Dee and RV, as both deliver the goods most of the time.

I see your point Peter in regards to the salient points being already "known" by some folks. Personally I thought the video put on fine display, “The best and brightest” of the good and the great’s hive dwellers thoughts. That being said I sure wish my backward’s thinking, misanthropic, deplorable, potato, soybean, and wheat farming cousin would have been invited to have a seat at the table. In the true and ancient spirit of Greek democracy and all. As you would expect, if you drove west on state highway 82 and looked North after passing the sprawling metropolis of Nelson, Minnesota (Population 191) you would see the word “TRUMP” emblazoned on my cousin’s barn in 14 foot tall, red letters. Perhaps less predictably, on the built in bookcase next to the small but neatly kept farmhouse’s fireplace, among others, you would find thumb worn copies of Solzhenitsyn’s “The Gulag Archipelago”, Friedman's “The World is flat”, Jaynes’ “The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind”, and perhaps a printed white paper or ten on such wide ranging topics as gauge theory electromagnetic duality, which seems to call into question the idea of Bohr’s valence electron model still being taught in the world’s finest erudite global hive universities. Don’t know if those fellas way up high in their ivory towers built on the bullshit foundations of mathematically tortured formulas that spit out chained CPI and the U3 unemployment number could hear him, but he might ask, “Gentlemen you say unemployment is low, but I’ve been following this fella John Williams, over at shadowstats for a while now, and he says U3 ain’t the right way to measure unemployment.” He might also indelicately ask if it was true that it was a bunch of fellas from the US Treasury paid (All proper and such with research grants for the tenured (bribes by another name?)) some fellow hive dwelling senior economists at Harvard and Yale to publish some studies with the preordained conclusion that chained CPI was an honest way to look at inflation. Or whether the outcome of that study was gerrymandered to lower outflows from the debt broke national treasury as a way to stem the flow of red ink that is resulting in the beginning of what is surely going to be the first of many broken promises in regards to unmet social contract obligations. He might also ask those fellas what they thought of the finer points and predictions Sir James Goldsmith made in his 1994 interview with Charlie Rose in regards to the foreseeable national and global macro effects of international corporations stealing local labor’s share of the value add proposition by offshoring production in search of increased shareholder value. Why they laughed at the man way back then, and what they have to say for themselves 24 years on, when every single one of Sir Goldsmith’s predictions have come true. My Tolstoy reading farmer cousin, he ain’t the brightest. Can’t be given these fine gentlemen are convinced the best and brightest flock to the skinny jean wearing, patriarchal hating global hives. But he knows the difference between the apocryphal and (un)common sense. He’ll say the darndest things, like its real hard to get a man to see things his salary depends on him not seeing. And if you try to cheat a farm like those New York Bankers and rating agencies cheated investors with CDO’s filled with tranches of liar’s loans filled mortgages, you’ll damn sure starve come winter time. And if winter does come, not that cheating a farm could be anything metaphorically like cheating a country’s treasury or financial system, (those fine fellas in the video will tell you it just ain’t so), my dumb country bumpkin farming cousin will have a cellar full of dry aged beef, more than few cans of ammo and iron to shoot it with, and a goodly stock of dry firewood covering up a healthy pile of useless pet rocks. Ignorant Trump voters. What do they know anyway.

Wow . . . Christopher C. that is pure poetry! Well done! To add to the truth is to subtract from it!

https://www.theglobalist.com/contributors/edward-goldberg/ - this bio explains A LOT.....

Hey Raoul -Out of genuine interest, any comments on this developing story maybe an RV followup is in order ----> may I suggest with Martin Armstrong? ----->> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI8eVe8fTAA ...............................................................................................................................................................................................Now that would be an /👁️\ eye /👁️\ opening rebuttal to RV's original pulpit piece on the topic !

Christopher C. – Two thumbs up on your comment. Maybe the pro-Trump and anti-Trump supporters can find a great middle ground in your response of 11/27/18 founded on mutual respect. (Of course there would be a lot less wealthy journalist on both sides.) One thing that would improve the country's future is common sense. I had a professor who said the that this world is a little strange where common sense passes for genius. Academia is just as much self-interested and tribal as anyone else. There is rarely any high moral ground anymore. In the best days of our Republic we benefited from the middle left working with the middle right to compromise and govern. It is the bifurcation of the far-right and the far-left that makes the Republic ungovernable. I am envious of your writing style. Is it possible that you hail from a little town on the Mississippi named Hannibal? DLS

Way to go Steven S.!1 I hope RV will wake up someday with their Browder interview... One day, this guy will have what he deserves

Great response from Christopher and Armstrong seems to have the facts on Browder. RV should revisit his bullshit article and ask some deeper questions.

You said it perfectly. @Milton, please highlight this comment!

Well, we all start from a different place . . .

A little humility goes a long way

Also worth mentioning, that during WWII, the country that produced it's own energy, raw materials, and food won the war.

I expect a great deal from academia and from the Exchange. I always look forward to Dee Smith's interviews. Let's not give a final semester grade on one paper. The next one will be better. DLS

Professor is in fire; "urban cities like NY, SF, or London sucking in all the best and brightest from rural areas". Translated = deep blue cities are are intellectually superior to the rural red = Trump voters.

I agree the best and the brightest is not accurate. Urban cities attract all types, especially ones who are not happy with their current prospects. DLS

I agree that it is very important (and a real added value) that Realvision does not end being an echo chamber... Intelligent and dissenting discourse is generally a big plus at the end of the day.

I am looking forward to future interviews with Mr. Smith as I have learned a great deal from him. They just need to be more insightful and focused as I have mentioned in other comments. I really became tired of all the academic tropes being tossed around and agreed to without thought or discussion. Metaphors and analogies are starting points not just a reason for a nod of approval each time someone says Thucydides trap. This is academia at its worst. As Derrida showed us the meaning of a trope slips away even before it is uttered. DLS