A: Yes, I absolutely did. Q: Did you vote for Ron Paul or someone else?

A: I do not vote for Republicans or Democrats under any circumstance. They are all part of the problem. I’ll leave you with that answer for that.

Q: What did you learn in your business career as a hedge fund manager that better helps you understand the current economic crisis and its causes and cures?

A: Certainly the experience of trading and being a part of that system itself opens up your eyes and allows you to see the machinations that are underlying the system. I guess the answer to your question is, for so long what I see are these regulations and these regulatory bodies that supposedly are trying to protect investors; but what always ends up happening is the corporations that are being quote-unquote “regulated” end up with too much political and lobbying power. They end up creating policies that are totally counter-productive to the actual regulation idea and they end up creating policies that they are able to game. So what you look at is, the more regulation, the more direct and specific regulation that is created in the name of protecting investors, the less protection you have. There’s an article in the New York Times today about J.P. Morgan pulling out their own company’s money out of (Bernie) Madoff's company a year before the Ponzi scheme came down, but they quote “Couldn’t tell their investors by law.” So in other words, we protect ourselves from being protected.

Q: Who are some of your intellectual influences – people books, etc?

A: I love Aristotle. Milton Friedman was a big influence on me… Um, I’m trying to think of some other different names, instead of just throwing out political figures…. Oh, Jim Cramer has been a big influence on me. He’s been a mentor to me. I would not have been able to launch my hedge fund without his mentorship.

Q: If someone came to you and said “I’ve got $100,000 under my mattress right now, what do I do with it?” what do you tell them?

A: I tell them that you put $10,000 to work in the three safest, best companies you can find. You make sure they have no debt on the balance sheet, because debt is death right now. Then you are going to put $10,000 to work every quarter for the next nine quarters, and eventually you will be fully invested.

Q: What will tell you we have hit bottom in this economic crisis?

A: You and I will not be wondering when we’ve hit the bottom. That’s when we’ll know we’re at the bottom.