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February 26, 2014 Medellin, Colombia Pop quiz: When really nasty criminals and dictators want to hide their illicit gains, which country do they go to? I’ll make this easy for you– multiple choice: a) Switzerland b) British Virgin Islands c) Hong Kong With all the drama, history, and stigma surrounding Switzerland, most people
February 25, 2014 En route to Colombia Li Mi-Yung just wanted to be free. This 55-year old widow in North Korea had spent the last 18-months building up an off-grid residential homestead. She was, for the most part, fully independent. She collected rain as a source of water. She had her own waste
February 21, 2014 Sovereign Valley Farm, Chile I need to caveat this missive and highlight that I am not a pessimistic person. I’ve traveled to so many places over the years– well over 100 countries. And I typically visit 30-40 each year. So I’ve seen first hand the tremendous opportunity that exists in
February 19, 2014 Sovereign Valley Farm, Chile It’s pretty ironic that I have two visitors right now in my home– one from Ukraine and the other from Thailand. Both of their countries are in the midst of chaotic turmoil right now, characterized by riots and violent clashes between protestors and police. It reminds
February 18, 2014 Sovereign Valley Farm, Chile Probably every kid in the world has at some point dreamed of having a time machine and being able to travel back to the past… usually to see dinosaurs or something like that. Time travel is an almost universal fantasy. And if I could snap my
February 17, 2014 En route from Buenos Aires, Argentina On the tail end of my Army career over a decade ago when I was still living in the Land of the Free, I used to be a volunteer for the Big Brothers / Big Sisters program. If you’ve never heard of it, BBBS
February 14, 2014 Buenos Aires, Argentina It’s clear that in today’s world, young people are constantly getting the shaft. Everyone is, really. But in many ways, young people have it the worst. Youth unemployment rates in ‘rich’ countries are shocking. Abysmal. Young people are the last to be hired and the first to
February 13, 2014 Santiago, Chile The IRS scandal caused a massive uproar last year when it was revealed that the agency was deliberately targeting non-profit political groups solely based on their names or political themes. One of those groups was called True the Vote, a grassroots, non-partisan organization that recruits and trains volunteers
February 12, 2014 Santiago, Chile Three million percent. That’s the investment return that Andy Bechtolsheim has made on his Google investment. If you had parked $100,000 in Google stock when it IPO’d ten years ago, your investment would be worth $1.4 million today. Not bad. But Andy was one of the first major
February 11, 2014 Sovereign Valley Farm, Chile I’ve recently read about a program in California whereby inmates at San Quentin state prison plant organic gardens within the prison’s walls: It’s an incredible irony that, in doing so, these convicted felons are achieving a level of resilience and security that many ‘free’ people on
February 6, 2014 Lakes region, Chile Last week in his State of the Union address, the President of the United States laid the groundwork for a new government program he calls “MyRA”. As he explained to the American people, this program will allow US taxpayers the ability to loan their retirement savings to
February 5, 2014 Panguipulli, Chile As you may know, I’m an avid reader. I devour especially historical accounts of any kind, because I consider lessons of history to be invaluable. As the Latin proverb says: Historia magistra vitae est—history is life’s teacher. One of my all-time favorite books is a novel by James
January 31, 2014 Sovereign Valley Farm, Chile First of all, a very Happy New Year to our many Chinese readers. According to the ancient Zodiac, today we are shedding the coils of the year of the Snake in favor of the Horse. Given this symbology, it is perhaps a very small irony that
January 30, 2014 Sovereign Valley Farm, Chile Zimbabwe. You remember those guys, right? The country’s plight with its currency became world famous, the butt of untold jokes in economic circles. At its height, hyperinflation in Zimbabwe reached nearly 90 sextillion in 2008. That’s a 9 with 22 zeros. To put it in context,
I have an old acquaintance named Sam who has a hell of a deal for you. Sam is actually a pretty famous guy with a big reputation. Unfortunately he has been a bit down and out on his luck lately… but he’s trying to make a comeback. And Sam is prepared to float