Today's guest last joined Dan at the Investor Hour table when the world was in the throes of a newly declared pandemic. This time, he visits us amid rampant inflation... a newly declared bear market... and likely a nascent recession.

Doug is the founder of Casey Research and a prolific writer with several highly acclaimed books under his belt. His financial book Crisis Investing was a New York Times No. 1 bestseller for weeks, dethroning the works of heavyweights such as economist Milton Friedman, former President Richard Nixon, and astronomer Carl Sagan.

Doug isn't afraid to let loose on controversial topics like the Second Amendment and the police. And he doesn't mince words when it comes to Uncle Sam...

I despise politics... Politics is actually institutionalized coercion. It's all about the government and who runs it. The government is an entity that holds a gun to your head – subtly or overtly – and tells you to do what you're told.

Increasingly, American life is revolving around the state, the government, and what it does... That's putting people at odds with each other.

Thanks to Big Brother's excessive intervention throughout the years, Doug says, "The entire country has been greatly over-financialized... It's all going to come crashing down." He decries the U.S. Federal Reserve's heavy-handed plays and longs for a "stable, capitalist free market society."

And as for Dan's customary Final Question, Doug says rather than an "instant cosmic breakthrough," he'd like to leave listeners with a short-but-sweet, positive affirmation...

Don't sweat the small stuff... Just try to live an ethical life. Try to be happy, try to be mellow, and things will take care of themselves.