In the first half, investment advisor Catherine Austin Fitts appeared in studio, for a discussion about the top financial trends impacting Americans. She noted that after decades, interest rates are beginning to trickle upward, which could affect mortgages, credit cards, and the bond market. In fact, if you have a variable rate mortgage, now would be a good time to refinance, she suggested. Earnings have been coming from companies borrowing money on the bond market and then buying back their own stock, but with the rise in interest rates, they may have to resort to layoffs instead, she explained. Federal, state, and local government spending has also been financed by the bond market, and with rising interest rates, they'll have to cut back their budgets, she added.

Rather than being saddled with huge student loan debts, she advised students and parents to carefully consider how they're underwriting an education. Students can go to less expensive institutions and work their way through school, she remarked. Weather is a wildcard, and a drought in the western United States could adversely affect agriculture, and thus the economy, she said. In terms of personal investments, any particular asset can be in the doghouse, so it's important to diversify, Fitts recommended. The positive aspect to the economy is a movement toward reinvesting and rebuilding the industrial base in America, as a well as a drop in oil and gas prices due to increased self sufficiency, she detailed.

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In the latter half, medium James Van Praagh addressed such topics as the afterlife, communication with spirits, and reincarnation. He spoke about the passing of psychic Sylvia Browne, whom he'd known for years. "Sylvia was unique...she's written so many books on the [psychic] subject, and opened up a lot of people's hearts and minds to this work," he commented. He also talked about his collaboration with Doreen Virtue on their book How to Heal a Grieving Heart, written after they both went through a devastating loss around the same time. The grieving process and the range of emotions one goes through can be difficult, even if one is prepared for the death of a loved one, he noted.

In his communications with spirits of the deceased, they often express regrets about how they lived their lives, adding that if they had the knowledge they've gleaned from the Other Side, they would have behaved differently. Spirits often communicate via the dream state, and keeping a dream journal can improve recall, he shared. The hardest part of his job, said Van Praagh, is not relaying messages from the spirit world, but that the living often don't realize their own innate gifts and abilities, which he picks up from their auras and energies. This summer, Van Praagh and medium Mavis Pittilla will lead a 'Talking to Heaven' workshop aboard a cruise ship to Alaska.

News segment guests: Jerome Corsi, Jeffrey Smith