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August 26, 2011 Zell am See, Austria Greetings from sunny Zell am See, easily one of the most tranquil places on the planet. Before I launch into this week’s questions, I first want to give kudos to our Asia partner and Chief Investment Strategist Tim Staermose. As you may know, Tim runs our
August 25, 2011 Zell am See, Austria As usual, the CNBC hosts were completely dumbfounded. Phoning in from Sao Paulo, Brazil, investment guru Marc Faber was a guest on CNBC last week, once again telling the unvarnished truth about the state of the world economy and bankrupt western nations. This time, Faber had
August 24, 2011 Zell am See, Austira The Wall Street Journal published a disturbing article earlier this week entitled “Federal Asset Seizures Rise, Netting Innocent With Guilty.” You can already imagine the crux of the article. In the United States, there are hundreds of regulations which authorize dozens federal agencies to confiscate private
August 23, 2011 Manila, Philippines Today I was accosted by someone begging for money. I know… big deal, right? It’s not an unusual occurrence anywhere in the world, especially here in the Philippines. Begging is actually big business in Manila. Often small children are forced to work the streets by a ‘begging syndicate,’
August 22, 2011 Zell am See, Austria One of my favorite books is the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant— West Point graduate, Union commander, former President, and failed businessman. It’s a bit long-winded, but brutally honest, and much of the first volume deals with Grant’s personal experiences as a young military officer
August 19, 2011 Zell am See, Austria Yesterday’s letter about social upheaval received a lot of comments, and I want to address the major themes today. First, ‘Simon the White’ wrote: “You imply that it’s not just the USA, but that all Western countries are screwed. Where will the contagion end? You appear
August 18, 2011 Zell am See, Austria Let’s be honest– most history books are crap. They have a terrible way of oversimplifying major cultural shifts, as if someone flips a light switch and society turns on a dime. Take Martin Luther, for example. In 1517, Luther publicly posted a list of 95 grievances
August 17, 2011 Zell am See, Austria Did you know that the word ‘idiot’ is actually derived from the origins of democracy in ancient Greece? Thousands of years ago, a Greek citizen who demonstrated disinterest in politics was labeled ‘idiotes’; it literally meant ‘private person,’ which curiously enough was a term of derision
August 15, 2011 Zell am see, Austria It’s easy to be pessimistic on a day like today. Forty years ago on this very day, Richard Nixon put a bullet into George Washington’s face, cancelling the direct convertibility of dollars into gold and once and for all ending any hope of an honest money
August 10, 2011 Vilnius, Lithuania I had a little piggy bank when I was kid. It was blue. And ceramic. In fact, I think I broke its nose off at one point and I was really sad about it. Most of all I remember loving the sound that the coins made when I
August 9, 2011 Vilnius, Lithuania [August 10th Update from Simon: Several people wrote that my numbers were incorrect and that a Big Mac sandwich costs much less than $17 in Switzerland. This is correct and its my mistake. It’s not the Big Mac sandwich, but the meal that costs > $17, around CHF
August 8, 2011 Vilnius, Lithuania Ancient Greek mythology tells the tale of Odysseus, the heroic king of Ithaca whose 10-year journey home after the Trojan War became one of the world’s most famous epics. At one point in the journey, his ship was heading straight for two deadly hazards– on one side was
August 5, 2011 Vilnius, Lithuania Fridays are normally the days I like to engage in a light-hearted Q&A, answering subscriber questions on a variety of topics ranging from libertarian philosophy to exotic international travel to investment insights. Given the meltdown that we witnessed yesterday, however, I wanted to take a moment to cut
August 4, 2011 Vilnius, Lithuania Here’s some food for thought that I’d like you to chew on for a bit. The debt ceiling debacle has been settled… President Obama is celebrating his 50th birthday, no doubt dancing a little jig that a major crisis has been averted, and equity markets in the US
August 3, 2011 Vilnius, Lithuania As is typical for me, I woke up this morning with the sun shining in my face from the east-facing window of my apartment here in Vilnius. It’s a really spectacular place– 2 bedrooms, around 1,000 square feet, and generously decorated with a lot of elegant finishings. From
