Hello, my friends and welcome to another episode of Passive Real Estate Investing. I'm your host, Marco Santarelli. It is great having you back. Well, I hope you've been having a great 2022 so far. It seems like the last month and holiday passed by very, very quickly. Maybe it's because we are just all so busy running around in so many different directions. I don't know about you, but it just seems to me that lately we've been having so much more media attention to debt specifically to federal and government debt and inflation. And, you know, Milton Friedman once said that inflation is taxation without legislation. And I also like something that Kevin Brady at once said, and he said, inflation destroys savings, impedes landing, and discourages investment. That means less productivity and a lower standard of living. And that couldn't be closer to the truth. So, you know, I guess because of just the amount of inflation we've been seeing price appreciation and inflation over the last 18 months or more here at Norada Real Investments, the company that I run here for real estate investors, we've seen an uptick in investor inquiries for investment real estate.
So, you know, I think to a large degree, that's probably because there's more of a flight to safety, safety in the sense that real estate is a true hard asset. It is a natural head against inflation, but I think there's also maybe some increasing stock market concerns because it actually has been more volatile in the last three to six months. And I think some investors are getting a little nervous and being shaken out of the stock market and they're moving some of their capital or maybe all of it, you know, towards hard assets like real estate, which is a natural, I hedge an asset that produces income also allows you to gain equity through appreciation and amortization of your mortgage loan, which of course we outsource to our tenants. We don't pay that ourselves. Our tenants pay off our mortgages for us. So real estate is a fantastic investment.
It's the most historically proven asset class. And it's a great way to deal with rising debts and inflation moving forward. You know, we were drowning in record levels of debt before COVID 19 came along as a crisis and we are now deluged in it. The US private sector loans have tripled relative to income since the 1950s and government debt is also at an all time high. These soaring debts burden, most individuals, and it stifles growth. It compounds inequality in this country and it brings falling living standards for millions of Americans. Unless of course, you're on the right side of that debt equation, which usually involves assets that you can acquire and leverage using debt to benefit you. And we'll talk about that. Of course, I've mentioned it many, many times over the years on the show as well, how you could use debt as a very powerful tool to accelerate your wealth creation.
My guest today, who is Richard Vague argues that contrary to mainstream assumptions, we cannot simply hope that the trend will correct itself. Mounting debt is a feature of our economic system. He argues, and it's not a bug, so debt's perpetually grow and compound. And that polarizes and impoverishes countries and economies if it's not dealt with. And so that seems to be one of the key questions, you know, how do we deal with it or do we just ignore it and leave it alone? Because as he argues, it's not a bug, it's just a feature of our current economic system. So with that, let's get to our guest and explore. Are this mind-bending new perspective on debt and inflation?
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If you missed our last episode, be sure to listen to Inflation and the Economy with Jeff Deist (Mises Institute)
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It is my pleasure and honor to introduce Richard Vague to the show. Richard is an American businessman. He's a venture capitalist,