Is Everything Rigged? American democracy is often portrayed as immaculate by the average political commentator. Elections are always to be trusted and the political process should never be questioned. Things weren’t always so rosy. For example, in 1960 then-Vice President Richard Nixon and then-Massachusetts Senator John F. …

In the mid-19th century, the United States was brimming with confidence. Following its major victory during the Mexican-American War (1846–1848), the US was able to acquire vast territories in what constituted present-day Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. …

Markets often display some of mankind’s most irrational behaviors. While most of us reading this are well aware of the Dot-com bubble and the even more devastating Great Financial Crisis — both of which had their fair share of irrational market behavior — economic bubbles bursting are not particular to…

When you tune into a show about real estate, you’ll usually hear real estate commentators talk about housing in the most generic of terms. They’ll say it’s expensive. Ok….. But is it really? It’s perfectly normal to hear someone declare that a given commodity, property, stock, etc. is expensive. To…

Once the dust settled from World War II, Germany was in a state of total devastation. The Nazi regime’s defeat at the hands of the Allied Powers (The United States, the United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and France) left millions dead, with the country’s vaunted infrastructure also in tatters. In addition…

Every activity comes with risk. From going down the 9 to 5 route to starting a business, there’s a risk associated with all sorts of activities. The Hartman Risk Evaluator™ is a concept that I coined to measure the risk level of income property investments in different real estate markets…

The 1920s were a pivotal decade for Florida. Traditionally viewed as a sparsely populated farming state, Florida gradually discarded this image after the Florida East Coast Railway was constructed in 1885 and was later expanded to West Palm Beach (1894), Miami (1896), and Key West (1912). …

Once the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, it was generally assumed that the world was heading towards an era of untold peace and prosperity. Countries that were previously economic backwaters in time became economic juggernauts. …

Most people don’t realize that things weren’t so great after the 13 American colonies officially gained their independence from Great Britain in 1783. In prominent states like Massachusetts, there was significant economic inequality between the more affluent coastal areas and the humbler hinterlands. …