Locally Grown with Jim Fini

Anti-discrimination laws have historically targeted a company’s intent but in 2015, a Supreme Court ruling allowed certain types of outcomes to be considered discrimination even if there was no explicit intent to discriminate. This is called disparate impact and we think this is really bad policy. It has the opposite affect of what our government intends. My guest Werner Kruck talks about how this...

For years, really smart people sneered at Tesla and shorted its stock. Over the past 10 years, all Tesla has done is revolutionize the auto industry, deliver an 18,885 percent return for its shareholders, and make Elon Musk either the richest or second richest man in the world, depending on the day.  Bitcoin is kind of like Tesla. Here’s what Bill Gates said on 2/27/2018 when Bitcoin was $10,755:...

Jim brings in his buddies Cecil Grant and Ted Zwijacz to provide an analysis of Biden's unprecedented 50 executive actions from the perspective of "the average Joe American." United We Stand. Divided We Fall. Each One for the Other, and All for All.

I published my book, Locally Grown: The Art of Sustainable Government , in October 2019 thinking that I was at the forefront of a movement to restore America’s bottom-up constitutional design and its power to make government more responsive, holistic and sustainable. Silly me. I discovered a couple months ago that Charles Marohn has been turning grassroots principals into real action with his Stro...

For those of you who have been listening to my podcast and reading my blogs, you know that I periodically focus on making a stronger more sustainable you, by bringing in interesting, smart guests who can help you make money. Last year I had Whitney Tilson to help you align your investments with the macro-trends he sees in the world.  This week I am continuing that effort focusing on you, albeit fr...

Joseph McCarthy was a Republican Senator from Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, he became the public face of anti-Communism in the midst of the Cold War by using his position as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Government Operations to identify communists, Soviet spies and sympathizers that had infiltrated the United States federal government, universities, fil...

Christmas is a joyous time that calls us all to be grateful, enjoy family, and think about others. But there is also no denying the fact that Jesus was a revolutionary who was unafraid to speak truth to power. He had the ultimate skin in the game and that is what all of us need to do more of. Get out of our comfort zones, help our fellow man, speak truth to power and keep the flame of liberty shin...

Protests are a form of protected free speech that is vital to our nation. Our founding documents were designed specifically to protect us from  government over reach and tyranny and ultimately recognized the power and duty of the people to resist  that government when it fails us. In his timeless essay "Civil Disobedience", American philosopher Henry David Thoreau exhorts us to get up of...

More than 23% of our population is within the education bureaucracy. If that bureaucracy is becoming less tolerant of free speech, how can we expect the adults that emerge from that system to be tolerant of free speech?  As time goes by, it will feel increasingly normal for those adults to become intolerant of speech they don’t agree with, and that intolerance endangers our democratic republic. Un...

Those of you who have been listening to me for a while, know that I am a big proponent of de-centralized power. My book, Locally Grown: The Art of Sustainable Governmen t, is all about that. The Constitution enshrines this decentralized power model by giving most power to the states and the people, though we have strayed frighteningly far from that model now.  One of those important state powers i...

Well, here we are! It looks like a narrow contested Biden victory. We have three tumultuous months until the “swearing in” on January 20th 2021. What have we learned ? That, we are still a sharply divided nation that has voted for divided government. Feels like Americans are looking for middle ground, not radical change. We have also learned that a few swing states within a few swing counties dete...

A few years ago when my son was looking for a summer league basketball team to join, he came across a local AAU team that was really outstanding. He wondered if he was good enough even to make the team. When he inquired, he was introduced to Coach Antoine Jennings who gave him the low down on the requirements for joining his crew.  It wasn’t like other AAU teams where you just tried out and if you...

I have always found it ironic how spirituality is usually low on the list of priorities when times are good but when times become difficult, people turn to God for hope and solace. Who hasn’t said a prayer when something bad happens that goes something like this? “Dear God, if you just help me get through this, I promise be a better person.” Or some version of the great prayer from Saint Augustine...

In April of this year, I wrote a blog post entitled “ Coronapocalypse .”  Back then, I suspected that the Corona virus pandemic was overblown reasoning that politicians, scientists and the media didn’t have enough data and were being super cautious with policy. Six months later, the data indicate that the pandemic is definitely overblown but the reasons for the hype have changed. For months now, c...

This one is an exciting deep dive into the future of work, the raging Cyberwar, Big Tech friend or foe and game planning for the outcome of the 2020 election. Join me as I dig in with two really smart and successful guys. Serial tech entrepreneur Dave Baggett and  S&P 500 C-suite executive and Lockheed Martin board member, George Bailey. United We Stand. Divided We Fall. Each One for the Other...

As promised,  I had Whitney back to talk about a mutual passion we have: Public Education Reform.  But before we get to that, we talk about what the betting odds are for the November 3 elections and how to plan your investments for that outcome. Jim and Whitney are joined in a lively Q& A, by seven of Jim’s subscribers, that includes sales and financial professionals and school teachers. Don’t...

In this epic time in our history when the country seems so divided, we all need to take a deep breath and recognize a great American life.  She was born Ruth Bader in Brooklyn, NY in 1933 of a Russian Jewish emigrant father and a Jewish mother from Brooklyn. Her first taste of hardship came early when her mother died the day before Ruth's high school graduation. She went on to attend Cornell...

I love movies that start at the end and work their way back.  One of my favorites, Pulp Fiction , is Quentin Tarantino's magnum opus. It’s a black comedy based around the criminal underworld of Los Angeles. It weaves several stories together and presents them in a non-linear story arc. The opening scene takes place in a diner, where a couple are discussing their business of robbery over lunch...

As is the case with several topics in my book, voting is proving to be an issue that is front and center in our politics right now.  Our country is divided, and elections are close.  The difference between winning and losing a Presidential election often comes down to a few thousand votes in a relatively few counties. Of the more than 120 million votes cast in the 2016 election, 107,000 votes in t...

Whitney Tilson is the founder and CEO of Empire Financial Research, which provides advice, commentary and in-depth research and analysis to help people become better investors. He is a Harvard alumnus both as an undergrad and as an MBA.  Prior to launching his investment career in 1999, Mr. Tilson spent five years working with Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter studying the competiti...

Today my guest is Retired Colonel Scott Caine who is running for the Florida 8th Congressional seat. As a fighter pilot, Scott’s stellar military career included more than 3,400 flying hours, and culminated with his final post as Vice commander of the 9th Air Force, where he led more than 29,000 military men and women. Scott is a long-time resident of Vero Beach Florida with his wife Pam with whom...

In June, I did my annual salmon impersonation and swam upstream from FL to my spawning grounds of New England.  During my visit, I spent some time with dear friends in Peterborough, NH and discovered a new book in “the throne room” that their son was reading. It was Anti Fragile by Nassem Taleb . Initially I thought it belonged to my friend John but I was impressed to see his son was the owner.  I...

I thought I’d take a break from our focus on rebuilding America through more powerful state and Local Government and talk about US Foreign Policy.  Foreign policy is one of the few enumerated powers our Constitution gives to the federal government. After WW2, The United States emerged as THE preeminent superpower as its military guaranteed free and open sea lanes and relative peace on the planet,...

Today I am continuing my string of interviews with local leaders with Tim Zorc who is currently serving his second term as a commissioner for Indian River County Florida.  Tim continues what his family started over 100 years ago as a Realtor, Consultant, Builder/Developer and Elected Official. From his family's initial purchase in 1914, the property grew to over 10,000 acres with operations s...

Colonel (Retired) Scott Caine is a 30-year veteran of the United States Air Force as a fighter pilot, and culminated as Vice commander of the 9th Air Force, where he led over 29,000 men and women. His service included deployments to Europe, Asia and the Middle East which shaped his understanding of the strengths capitalism and freedom provided in our great country. With the rising threat of homegr...